Sleep Apnea May Be Deadly
Risk of Premature Death 3 Times Higher in People With Undiagnosed Sleep Apnea
Reviewed by
Louise Chang, MDAug. 1, 2008 -- Suffering from
sleep apnea may do more than just spoil a good night's
sleep. A new study shows that people with severe sleep apnea may be up to three times more likely to die prematurely, and that risk increases if the sleep disorder is left untreated.
Sleep apnea is a common sleeping disorder that causes frequent pauses in breathing during sleep and is often accompanied by snoring. About 6% of adults in the U.S. suffer from moderate to severe forms of the condition, and 17% have less severe forms.
In the study, researchers followed more than 1,500 adults for 18 years who had been screened for sleep apnea at the start of the study. The results showed that about 19% of those with severe sleep apnea died during the follow-up period compared with only 4% of those without sleep apnea.
Researchers found the risk of premature death increased as the severity of sleep apnea increased, but findings suggested protection from risk of death with proper treatment of sleep apnea, such as the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to keep airways open during sleep and prevent pauses in breathing.
When those who used CPAP regularly to treat their sleep apnea were excluded from the analysis, the risk of death was 3.8 times greater for those with for untreated sleep apnea.
"I was surprised by how much the risks increased when we excluded people who reported treatment with CPAP," researcher Terry Young, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, says in a news release. "Our findings suggest -- but cannot prove -- that people diagnosed with sleep apnea should be treated, and if CPAP is the prescribed treatment, regular use may prevent premature death."
Sleep Apnea Death Risk
In the study, published in Sleep, researchers followed a random sample of 1,522 men and women between the ages of 30 and 60 who participated in the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort Study.
The participants spent one night at a sleep laboratory under observation and were screened for sleep apnea. Those diagnosed with sleep apnea were divided into groups according to the severity of their condition, as defined by the average number of breathing pauses and sleep disruptions during sleep.
During 18 years of follow-up, 80 people died. The overall risk of death during the study period was 3.2 times higher among those with severe sleep apnea compared with those without sleep apnea at baseline, after adjusting for other risk factors such as age, sex, and body mass index.
The link between sleep apnea and heart-related death was especially strong. About 42% of the deaths in people with severe sleep apnea were due to heart disease, and the risk of heart-related death was more than five times higher among those with untreated severe sleep apnea compared with those without sleep apnea.
Tags: Sleap Apnea Deadly
I'd like to introduce the new Friends Status and Mood tool that I've developed for the site. Some of you may be familiar with a module like this, but for those of you that aren't... use this tool to tell your friends what your current mood is and what you may currently be doing. It's a fun way to stay in touch and the more often you update your status, the more often you'll be getting your messae across. Have fun with it! I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the summer. Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the site. I'm really trying to kick it into gear now.
All my best,
Peter Armenti
Long Island Online Admin & Developer
Tags: Friends Activity Feed New Lionline
Hello everyone.. well it seems we are finally underway here.. kind of anyway.. There are still many little glitches and a lot of features to be added but at least we have some great new members. I'll soon have a better way for you to invite people from your email contact lists to come join the community and I'll email you when that becomes available. I'm also working on getting an album option available to you so you can categorize your gallery pictures in albums. We'll also be adding status and mood functionally as well as a friend feed so you can see what your friends have been up to on the site. It is truly my hope that this site will help connect long islanders and provide resources for businesses, bands, groups, and friends to network with eachother. If anyone ever has any questions, concerns, comments or suggestions... please feel more than free to express them to me. I need all the help I can get :) Hope to continue to see you online soon. If you haven't joined yet - well, please do.
Peter
admin - Long Island Online
Tags: Long Island Let Me Know
As many have noticed, development of this site has been a VERY long process. After working full time I spend many a nights into the wee early hours of the morning working sometimes on such trivial things. I am hopefully nearing at least the early beta stages which will at very least make the site operation, although there is still a great deal to be done. The classifieds section is nearing completion while the business directory and the real estate sections still need to be created. So yes, there is still a great deal to do.. BUT.. we CAN start signing people up and start using the many other valuable parts of the site. YES, the site needs a visual makeover still but I think I should start sidelining that until everything is actually functional. Thanks everyone now and for your continued support. I really hope that Long Island Online can play an active part in bettering the Long Island experience.
Active parts of the site:
-Blogs
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-Gallery (albums coming soon)
-Polls, Quizzes
-Member Profiles (better design options coming soon)
-Classifieds (listings uploaded to Oodle.com, working on downloading listings, listings added to your profile and can be shared an co-promoted by other members on their profiles)
-Events (same co-promote option available
-News Section (with voting, commenting, view counter, and more)
-Status & Mood
-Arcade
-FORUMS (categories coming soon)
-GROUPS (group creation, galleries, GROUP FORUM CREATION, and more)
-Schools (add your schools to your personal profile, add photos and media to school listing)
Much much more and much much more to come!!
Stay in touch... hope to see you all on and off line soon.
Peter Armenti
Long Island Online Admin
Tags: Developing Site Long Island Online
