Category

Heart Health

Feb 03
Love0

The Impact of PAP Therapy on Cardiovascular Risk and Mortality

By Heart Health, Selected Articles, Sleep and Aging, Sleep Apnea, Treatment No Comments

Positive airway pressure (PAP) use is associated with lower all-cause mortality and lower incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) among older adult patients with sleep apnea, according to recent findings published in JAMA Network Open.

This large retrospective cohort study evaluated mortality and health outcomes among 888,835 Medicare beneficiaries with obstructive sleep apnea over a median follow-up period of 3.1 years. The researchers found that initiating PAP therapy was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of both all-cause mortality and MACE, including heart attack, stroke, and heart failure.

These findings underscore the critical importance of early diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea to improve long-term health outcomes.

Identifying Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea often goes undiagnosed. Common symptoms include snoring, gasping or choking during sleep, morning headaches, and daytime sleepiness.

Risk factors for sleep apnea include high body mass index (BMI), obesity, older age, and certain anatomical features (e.g., enlarged tonsils, upper airway abnormalities). Use of tobacco, alcohol, and certain sedative and pain medications can worsen apnea severity.

Sleep apnea frequently co-occurs with other health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, hypertension, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), hyperlipidemia, and type 2 diabetes.

Sep 09
Love0

Home Sleep Tests May Fill a Gap in Care for Stroke Patients, Study Finds – Sleep Review

By Brain Health, Heart Health, Sleep Apnea

Research suggests that treating sleep apnea after a stroke or a mini-stroke can significantly improve recovery and clinical outcome. Sleep Review presents a study abstract published for the American Academy of Neurology (AAN) on how home sleep testing can be used to better serve stroke patients.

Update: We originally wrote about the study abstract. The study has since been published by the American Heart Association (AHA) in Stroke.

Read the full article in Stroke
Read the full article in Sleep Review
Feb 14
Love0

Study helps solve mystery of how sleep protects against heart disease – National Institutes of Health

By Heart Health, Sleep Science No Comments

Researchers based at Massachusetts General Hospital have discovered one way that sleep protects against atherosclerosis, the buildup of arterial plaques. Their study, published in Nature, describes the mechanism by which insufficient sleep increases production of inflammatory white blood cells known to be major contributors to atherosclerosis.

“We’ve identified a mechanism by which a brain hormone controls production of inflammatory cells in the bone marrow in a way that helps protect the blood vessels from damage,” explained Filip Swirski, Ph.D., the study’s senior author. “This anti-inflammatory mechanism is regulated by sleep, and it breaks down when you frequently disrupt sleep or experience poor sleep quality. It’s a small piece of to a larger puzzle.”

Read the full news release published by the National Institutes of Health
Dec 02
Love0

Snoring can worsen heart function, especially in women – Medical News Today

By Heart Health, Sleep Apnea, Snoring, Women's Health No Comments

According to a recent study, snoring and sleep apnea may affect cardiac function in women earlier than in men. Women who snored were more likely to have a significant increase in left ventricular mass, making the heart work harder to fulfill the body’s needs.

Findings also suggested that obstructive sleep apnea may be vastly underdiagnosed among snorers.

Read the full article in Medical News Today
Sep 20
Love0

Treating Sleep Apnea Greatly Improves Stroke Patients’ Recovery – Sleep Review

By Brain Health, Heart Health, Sleep Apnea No Comments

A large study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association found that starting treatment for sleep apnea as early as possible after a stroke or a mini-stroke significantly improves recovery and clinical outcome.

According to the lead author, Dawn Bravata, MD, “We have shown, for the first time in a randomized controlled study, that for individuals who have had a stroke or a TIA—a transient ischemic attack, also known as a mini-stroke— the diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea with CPAP therapy provides significant benefits, even greater than the benefits of tPA [tissue plasminogen activator], the FDA-approved drug treatment for stroke.” 

The study followed 252 individuals who had strokes or TIAs for up to one year after the event. Two-thirds of the study participants were effectively using CPAP therapy for sleep apnea. Preliminary data suggests that the earlier sleep apnea was treated in stroke patients, the more potent the effect of that treatment. 

Read the full article in Sleep Review