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Women with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cardiac Symptoms Have a 31% Incidence of Cardiac Dysfunction

February 15, 2013 in Research, Sleep Apnoea by admin | No comments

In a study presented on today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine’s annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in San Francisco, researchers reported findings that women with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiac symptoms have a 31 percent incidence of cardiac dysfunction. The use of echocardiograms should be considered in the clinical management of these women.

OSA is characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing or instances of abnormally low breathing, during sleep. These pauses can last from at least ten seconds to minutes, and may occur five to 30 times or more an hour; this can lead to cardiovascular disease. The objective of the trial was to measure the incidence of OSA among pregnant and reproductive women.

The cohort was made up of 1,265 women between the ages of 15-45 who met the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI) criteria for OSA based on nocturnal Polysomnogram testing. Data was gathered from 2005-2012 at a tertiary care center. Sleep lab data and individual transthoracic echocardiogram reports were reviewed.

“As obesity rates increase among reproductive age women, the frequency of obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease in pregnancy is anticipated to rise. The increased hemodynamic demands of pregnancy can cause women with underlying cardiac disease to decompensate,” said Laura K.P. Vricella, MD, fellow, Maternal-Fetal Medicine at MetroHealth Medical Center.

“We found a 31 percent incidence of abnormal echocardiograms among symptomatic women with obstructive sleep apnea. Further investigation is needed to understand the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease and their impact on pregnant women.”

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Untreated Sleep Apnoea Reduces Your Life Span

April 26, 2012 in Information, Sleep Apnoea by admin | 1 comment

Life longevity specialist Dr Dick Richards blogs on Breathing Relief about the dangers of lack of sleep to health, and side effects of sleep apnoea:

“The bad news is that this [sleep deprivation] causes a rapid fall in the ability of the metabolism to conduct its requisite routines of anti-oxidation and other tissue repairing processes. If repeated several times , as is usually the case, there can be significant falls in oxygenation levels in the blood leading to a recognisable state of what is called oxygen desaturation. The serious consequences over this were such that over thirty years ago there was a careful medical study [*] into the relationship between sleep loss and these unwelcome side effects. It was clearly shown that symptoms of the obstructive sleep apneoa [OSA] syndrome include excessive daytime sleepiness, nocturnal awakenings, reduced sexual inclination and performance, and morning headaches. A number of other mortality studies have suggested decreased survival statistics in persons with the OSA syndrome, possibly due to this causing vascular-related disease.”

We know sleep apnoea leads to greater incidence of hypertension and atherosclerosis related diseases such as stroke, angina, and acute myocardial infarct. In addition to shortened longevity in patients with untreated or inadequately treated OSA there are also other factors which could account for this early mortality, for example sudden death during sleep (arrhythmia) or even fatalities from sleep related automobile or other accidents.

 

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New Study Shows CPAP Reduces Risk of Cardiovascular Death in Women With Sleep Apnoea

January 19, 2012 in Research, Sleep Apnoea by Michael Oko | No comments

Severe obstructive sleep apnea was associated with a risk of cardiovascular death in women, but continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) seemed to reduce the risk, according to a small Spanish study.

In a 116-patient, observational study, those with severe obstructive sleep apnea had a cardiovascular mortality rate of 3.71 per 100 person-years compared with the control group’s rate of 0.28 per 100 person years, Francisco Campos-Rodriguez, MD, from Valme University Hospital in Seville, Spain, and colleagues found.

Women with mild to moderate apnea had a mortality rate of 0.94 per 100 person-years (P=0.034 compared with the control group), they reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Despite prevalence data suggesting that 2% to 3% of middle-age women have obstructive sleep apnea, most of the studies on both apnea and cardiovascular effects have been done exclusively in men. The researchers were interested in investigating this issue in a large group of women.

Source: Medpage Today

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Philips Respironics Launches “The Clinical Advantage” Newsletter

September 4, 2011 in Research, Sleep Apnoea by Michael Oko | No comments

Philips Respironics has released the first issue of Philips Respironics Clinical Newsletter, Philips Respironics – The Clinical Advantage.

The Clinical Advantage is designed to bring you up to date clinical information on a current topic of interest. Each issue will cover a specific theme and include an editorial by Dr David White, and externally written feature articles, case studies and reviews of ongoing research by leading physicians. Dr White writes:

“Welcome to the first edition of Philips Respironics’ newsletter The Clinical Advanage. This is a newsletter dedicated to keeping you up to date with clinical information and new clinical literature regarding sleep apnea. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been the engine that has driven the remarkable growth of the sleep field over the last 25 years. Although the medical community and the general public have been interested in the performance and quality-of-life problems that result from sleep apnea, the real concern has been the potential relationship between OSA and the cardiovascular system.

“The theme of the first issue is SDB and Cardiovascular disease and includes a feature article by Dr Michael Arzt (Germany). Michael Arzt summarizes the current state of the literature regarding the association between OSA and cardiovascular disease and points out many of the areas where controversy still remains. Case studies are also presented which develop several of these themes further. However, this controversy will not end until adequately powered, randomized, controlled, clinical trials are conducted addressing this issue. At last, several such studies are underway.”

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Erectile Dysfunction Linked to Sleep Apnoea

July 4, 2011 in Research, Sleep Apnoea by Michael Oko | 1 comment

Two studies that link the quality of sleep to the occurrence of erectile dysfunction and other urologic conditions were presented to reporters during the 2011 Annual Meeting of the American Urological Association (AUA).

The studies suggest that men with erectile dysfunction (ED) should be screened for obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). After adjusting for age and other health conditions, patients with ED were more than twice as likely to have sleep apnoea than their normal counterparts.

This was the largest study to date to demonstrate a relationship between obstructive sleep apnoea and erectile dysfunction. Researchers at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York evaluated 870 consecutively enrolled men through a cardiac screening program. Patients were screened for obstructive sleep apnea and erectile dysfunction through clinical questionnaires and were asked about their history of cardiovascular disease, blood pressure, diabetes and smoking. The mean age in the study population was 47.3 years, with a mean BMI of 30.2.

Sixty-three percent of patients in the study screened positive for obstructive sleep apnea, 5.6 percent had a history of diabetes, and 29 percent had a smoking history. The likelihood for having OSA increased as the severity of ED increased.

The good news for patients with both OSA and ED is that treatment for sleep apnea through continuous positive airway pressure therapy (CPAP), together with drug therapy, has been shown to improve symptoms of ED.

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