Sleep Apnea risk factor for Coronary Artery Disease

From Medscape Medical News

New Findings Support Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a Risk Factor for Coronary Artery Disease
Becky McCall

September 24, 2010 (Barcelona, Spain) — The latest findings from a Swedish study suggest that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might be a stronger risk factor for coronary artery disease (CAD) than commonly recognized factors like obesity, diabetes, smoking, and hypertension, and even more prevalent in the CAD population than has been previously reported.

Here at the European Respiratory Society 2010 Annual Congress, Yuksel Peker, MD, a pulmonologist at Skaraborg Hospital in Skövde, Sweden, presented the latest findings from the ongoing Randomized Intervention with CPAP in Coronary Artery Disease and Sleep Apnoea (RICCADSA) trial.

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The study is ongoing, Dr. Peker acknowledged, but analyses of baseline demographics and comorbidity profiles continue to strongly support OSA as a risk factor for CAD.

Dr. Peker said that not only is the prevalence of OSA "surprisingly high," these patients do not always show typical symptoms such as sleepiness.

"We found that the prevalence of OSA is 64% in the CAD population. This is very high. Hypertension is 58% and obesity 28% [in this population], so OSA is much more common than more conventional risk factors. Of course, these comorbidities probably interact. In fact, CAD patients with OSA have far more comorbidities than CAD patients without OSA," he told Medscape Medical News.

http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/729361

Sleep apnea tied to migraines, heart arrhythmia in Vikings' Percy Harvin

Report: Harvin dealing with sleep apnea

Posted by Judd Zulgad

Last update: September 10, 2010 - 5:46 AM

NEW ORLEANS -- Percy Harvin has expressed confidence of late that doctors are confident they have found a way to manage the wide receiver's issue with migraine headaches.

But Harvin had refused to elaborate on the topic until Thursday.

Harvin told NBC reporter Andrea Kremer that he has been diagnosed with sleep apnea and that doctors believe that is the main issue triggering migraine headaches that kept Harvin out for much of training camp.

Harvin had an extremely scary moment during the preseason when he collapsed on the field at Winter Park after the onset of another migraine. He was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and said his heart stopped beating for 10 seconds while he was there. Doctors began to believe that Harvin was not getting enough oxygen while sleeping.....

http://www.startribune.com/sports/vikings/blogs/102610824.html?elr=KArksLckD8EQDUoaEyqyP4O:DW3ckUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aUgOy9cP3DieyckcUsI

Sleepiness and health in midlife women

Sleepiness and health in midlife women: results of the National Sleep Foundation's 2007 Sleep in America poll.

Chasens ER, Twerski SR, Yang K, Umlauf MG.

Behav Sleep Med. 2010 Jul;8(3):157-71.

Abstract

The 2007 Sleep in America poll, a random-sample telephone survey, provided data for this study of sleep in community-dwelling women aged 40 to 60 years. The majority of the respondents were post- or perimenopausal, overweight, married or living with someone, and reported good health. A subsample (20%) reported sleepiness that consistently interfered with daily life; the sleepy subsample reported more symptoms of insomnia, restless legs syndrome, obstructive sleep apnea, depression and anxiety, as well as more problems with health-promoting behaviors, drowsy driving, job performance, household duties, and personal relationships. Hierarchical regression showed that sleepiness along with depressive symptoms, medical comorbidities, obesity, and lower education were associated with poor self-rated health, whereas menopause status (pre-, peri- or post-) was not. These results suggest that sleep disruptions and daytime sleepiness negatively affect the daily life of midlife women.