Stroke victims who have obstructive sleep apnea die sooner than stroke victims who do not have sleep apnea or who have central sleep apnea, according to Swedish researchers, who will present their findings at the American Thoracic Society’s 2008 International Conference in Toronto on Monday, May 19.
The researchers followed 132 stroke patients over 10 years. Twenty-three of those patients had obstructive sleep apnea; 28 of those patients had central sleep apnea. Those with an obstructive apnea-hypopnea index of 15 or greater were 76 percent more likely to die earlier. Those with a lower apnea-hypopnea index of 10 were also at greater risk of early death.
An online insomnia intervention based on established face-to-face cognitive behavioral therapy techniques appears to improve patients’ sleep, according to a report in the July, 2009 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
About one-third of adults report symptoms of insomnia and approximately 10 percent meet diagnostic criteria for an insomnia disorder, according to background information in the article. The condition decreases quality of life, impairs daytime functioning, has personal and public health consequences and results in an estimated $41 billion in reduced productivity every year.
According to a research abstract presented on June 8, 2009, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, race significantly influences the risk of obesity conferred by short sleep duration, with blacks having a greater risk than whites. Results indicate that short sleep was associated with obesity, with the adjusted [...]
Results of a study published in the June 15, 2009 issue of the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine show that complaints of fatigue and tiredness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) improved significantly with good adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, suggesting that — like the symptom of excessive daytime sleepiness — these complaints are important symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea.
The results demonstrate good adherence to CPAP therapy for an average of five or more hours per night resolved baseline complaints of fatigue in 45 of 80 participants (56 percent), tiredness in 56 of 96 participants (58 percent) and sleepiness in 48 of 72 participants (67 percent); improvement of each symptom was significantly better among CPAP-adherent participants than among inadequately treated subjects. A baseline complaint of lack of energy also was resolved in 47 of 100 participants with good CPAP adherence, but this improvement failed to reach statistical significance when compared with inadequately treated participants.
A research abstract presented at Sleep 2009 demonstrates that sleep selectively preserves memories that are emotionally salient and relevant to future goals when sleep follows soon after learning. Effects persist for as long as four months after the memory is created.
Results show the sleeping brain seems to calculate what’s most important about an experience and then selects only what is adaptive for consolidation and long-term storage. Across delays of 24 hours, or even three-to-four months, sleeping soon after learning preserved the trade-off as compared to waiting an entire day before going to sleep.
Sleep apnea has long been known to be associated with obesity, but a study published in the June 2009 issue of Diabetes Care finds the disorder is widely undiagnosed among obese individuals with type 2 diabetes, showing nearly 87 percent of participants reported symptoms, but were never diagnosed.
For those with untreated sleep apnea, it doesn’t just mean their sleep is disrupted; existing research shows that it can also mean an increased risk of heart disease and stroke.
Research findings presented at Sleep 2009, the 23rd Annual Meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, a link exists between the severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and weight gain.
Results indicate that people with an apnea-hypopnea index (AHI), the average of the combined episodes of apnea and hypopnea that occur per hour of sleep, of over 15 had an increase in body mass index (BMI) of 0.52 kg/m2 compared to those with an AHI between five and 15, who saw an increase of 0.22 kg/m2.
According to research findings presented Wednesday, June 10, at Sleep 2009, the 23rd annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, caffeine use prevents increased risk-taking that occurs after several nights of total sleep deprivation.
Results indicate that despite extreme sleep deprivation, participants who had consumed caffeine did not exhibit increased risky behavior on the Balloon Analog Risk Task (BART), a computerized measure of impulsive risk-taking, according to the findings, released in abstract form, titled, “Caffeine Protects Against Increased Risk-Taking Behavior During.”
Treatment with surgery or an oral appliance that adjusts the jaw is associated with improvements in obstructive sleep apnea, a condition caused by blocked upper airways in which patients periodically stop breathing during sleep, according to two reports in the May 2009 issue of Archives of Otolaryngology–Head & Neck Surgery.
Sleep apnea is most commonly treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. Individuals undergoing CPAP therapy wear a mask at night connected to a machine that increases air pressure in the throat, preventing the airway from closing.
