Just thought I would pass this along since we had a discussion a while back about people with sleep apnea not seeking treatment.
Dana Sleep apnea linked to night deathsBy ANDR� PICARD Thursday, March 24, 2005 Page A17 PUBLIC HEALTH REPORTER Many people long to die peacefully in their sleep, their heart stopping while they dream and snore. But reality is different: Heart attack deaths actually hit their nadir at night, and peak between sunrise and noon. The exception is people who suffer from sleep apnea. New research shows that they are far more likely to die in their sleep. The irony is that their sleep is, at the best of times, anything but peaceful. Sleep apnea is a condition in which the throat closes repeatedly and people stop breathing for several seconds. When this occurs, oxygen levels plummet, and carbon-dioxide levels soar, which can trigger cardiac arrest. For a long time, sleep apnea has been dismissed as nothing more than bothersome snoring but, increasingly, it is being seen as a serious health risk. "It's one more piece of evidence linking heart disease and sleep apnea, and why we need to take sleep apnea more seriously," said Dr. Virend Somers, a cardiologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn. Advertisements Research has shown that people with congestive heart failure and those who have had a stroke are far more likely to develop sleep apnea. The condition is also common among the obese. Dr. Somers stressed that the new research does not necessarily demonstrate that people with sleep apnea are more likely to die of heart disease, though there is evidence from other studies that suggests this is the case. But the time of death should raise some red flags, he said, because sleep is normally a passive time, when the stresses that can trigger heart attacks are absent. The new research, published in today's edition of the New England Journal of Medicine, involved 112 Minnesota residents, diagnosed with sleep apnea, who died suddenly of heart-related causes. Their outcomes were compared to people of similar backgrounds in the general population who did not have sleep apnea. Researchers found that more than half the sleep apnea sufferers died between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. In the general population, this was the time people were least likely to die of cardiac-related problems. By contrast, however, the number of deaths among sleep apnea sufferers was significantly lower between 6 a.m. and noon than among members of the general population. What the study suggests is that people are dying at night because they have sleep apnea, and that means the condition should be treated far more aggressively, said Douglas Bradley, director of the Sleep Research Laboratory at the Toronto Rehabilitation Institute. "If sleep apnea is causing these deaths in the middle of the night, then treating it may be able to prevent those deaths," Dr. Bradley said. The most effective treatment is known as continuous positive airway pressure. Patients use the CPAP device and a breathing mask; the air pumped into their mouth and nose prevents the involuntary lapses in breathing that mark sleep apnea. Problem is, the vast majority of people with sleep apnea are not being treated because their condition has not been diagnosed. "The literature suggests up to 80 per cent of people with sleep apnea don't have a clue what's going on, said Jeffrey Lipsitz, medical director of the Sleep Disorders Centre of Metropolitan Toronto. "They are just walking around tired." He said a diagnosis of sleep apnea requires a sleep study and, in some parts of the country, the wait list stretches up to four years for the test. "You may die on a waiting list," Dr. Lipsitz said. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Discover CFTicket - The leading ColdFusion Help Desk and Trouble Ticket application http://www.houseoffusion.com/banners/view.cfm?bannerid=48 Message: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=i:5:151667 Archives: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/threads.cfm/5 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/lists.cfm/link=s:5 Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5 Donations & Support: http://www.houseoffusion.com/tiny.cfm/54
