Top 5 facts about sleep apnea

TO coincide with World Sleep Day 2014, ResMed (NYSE: RMD) highlights its pick for the top five research discoveries about sleep apnea from the past year. Together, the findings paint an alarming picture, the sleep and respiratory medicine innovator and pioneer said.

This year, the World Sleep Day slogan is “Restful Sleep, Easy Breathing, Health Body” – three key elements of good sleep that are missing with sleep apnea. The sleeping disorder is still on the rise and the findings demonstrate that untreated, sleep apnea can severely affect quality of life, health, and mortality, ResMed said.

1. Sleep apnea is linked to higher rates of cancer Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) deprives the body of oxygen (also known as hypoxia), which may lead to higher rates of cancer in patients under the age of 65. OSA occurs when the throat relaxes during sleep and blocks the airway, causing a person to snore and/or stop breathing until the brain triggers a wake-up response and the body struggles to gasp for air. [Campos-Rodriguez et al. “Association between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Cancer Incidence in a large multicenter Spanish Cohort.” Am J of Respir Crit Care Med, Jan 2013]

2. Sleep apnea increases risk of sudden cardiac death "Oxygen is our fuel and without it we cease to exist," said Jeff Armitstead, Ph.D., ResMed-Asia Pacific's vice president of Medical Affairs. "Something like sleep apnea which reduces our oxygen supply and is directly associated with things like sudden cardiac death must be taken very seriously." [Gami et al. “Obstructive sleep apnea and the risk of sudden cardiac death: A longitudinal study of 10,701 adults.” J Am Coll Cardiol, Aug 2013]

3. Untreated sleep apnea slows recovery from heart attacks "This research is startling because it reveals that if you suffer from untreated sleep apnea and have a heart attack, your heart will not heal like a person's heart without sleep apnea," said Dr Armitstead. [Buchner et al. “Impact of sleep-disordered breathing on myocardial salvage and infarct size in patients with acute myocardial infarction.” Eur Heart J., Oct 2013]

4. Treatment for sleep apnea can reduce blood pressure Treatment of sleep apnea with continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) therapy reducADIDAS