Sleep Apnea: Severe breathing disorder linked to obesity, heart failure, study f

[Guest guest]

Sleep apnea can raise death risk 46 percent

Severe breathing disorder linked to obesity, heart failure, study finds

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32461830/ns/health-more_health_news/

Severe sleep apnea raises the risk of dying early by 46 percent, U.S.

researchers reported Monday, but said people with milder sleep-breathing

problems do not share that risk.

They said people with severe breathing disorders during sleep were more likely

to die from a variety of causes than similar people without such sleep

disorders. The risks are most obvious in men aged 40 to 70, Naresh Punjabi of

s Hopkins University in Baltimore and colleagues found.

Sleep apnea is caused by a collapse of the upper airway during sleep. Strong

snoring can be a symptom but what makes apnea different are numerous brief

interruptions in breathing.

Sleep apnea is closely linked with obesity, high blood pressure, heart failure

and stroke, but researchers have not been able to clearly quantify how much more

likely it makes a person to die.

Punjabi's team studied 6,400 men and women for an average of eight years. Those

who started with major sleep apnea were 46 percent more likely to die from any

cause, regardless of age, sex, race, weight or smoking, they reported in the

Public Library of Science journal PLoS Medicine.

Men aged 40 to 70 with severe sleep-disordered breathing were twice as likely to

die from any cause as healthy men the same age, they reported in the study.

" Among men, 42.9 percent did not have sleep-disordered breathing, 33.2 percent

had mild disease, 15.7 percent had moderate disease, and 8.2 percent had severe

disease, " they wrote.

They said about 25 percent of the women had mild sleep apnea, 8 percent had

moderate disease and 3 percent had severely disordered breathing.

The researchers, funded by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the

National Institutes of Health, said people with milder sleep-breathing disorders

were not more likely to die early.

The NHLBI estimates 12 million adult Americans have sleep apnea, but most are

not diagnosed or treated. The National Sleep Foundation puts the number at 18

million.

" In severe sleep apnea a patient's airway is blocked while the patient suffers

for 20 to 30 seconds and wakes up.

" When it becomes this frequent — 30 times per hour — about every two minutes it

is severe sleep apnea and can become a problem, " said Dr. Rapoport of New

York University, who worked on the study.

" The best treatment for sleep apnea is weight loss. However, the most successful

treatment can be a nasal CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) mask that

applies pressure to help keep the airways of a patient open while they sleep,

allowing normal breathing, " he added in a statement.

" Another possible helpful treatment is surgery. That may include tonsil

removal, " said Rapoport. " A mouth guard that pulls a patient's mouth forward is

another option. "

A small Canadian company, Victhom Human Bionics Inc., has filed a patent on a

new device to detect sleep apnea, which must usually be diagnosed in a sleep lab

and Medtronic Inc. makes sleep apnea devices.