(Press-News.org) Around one in five people may be suffering with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), according to a study published today (Thursday) in the ERJ Open Research [1].
People with OSA often snore loudly, their breathing starts and stops during the night, and they may wake up several times. Not only does this cause tiredness, but it can also increase the risk of high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
Treatments and lifestyle changes can help people with OSA. However, the new study also suggests that only a small proportion of people with symptoms of OSA have been diagnosed and are receiving help for the condition.
The study included data on 20,151 French adults. Researchers recorded how many participants had been diagnosed with OSA. They also used a questionnaire to gauge how many participants might have undiagnosed OSA. The questionnaire focuses on heavy snoring and excessive daytime sleepiness (the two most common OSA symptoms), high blood pressure and obesity.
Researchers then used this data to calculate the proportion of the French population who are likely to be affected by OSA. They found that around one in five (20.2%) were highly likely to have OSA while only 3.5% were being treated for the condition.
OSA was more common in men in people who were older, had cardiovascular disease, lower socioeconomic status or were less physically active, in smokers and in people with symptoms of depression. Women were at a higher risk of going undiagnosed with OSA.
The study was led by Dr Pauline Balagny from the Faculty of Medicine at University of Paris-Cité, France. She said: “We know that OSA is a major health hazard but if patients are diagnosed with the condition, they can be given treatments and advice to mitigate the risks. Our study suggests that OSA is common, but the majority of those affected do not know they have the condition.
“Our findings are in line with research in other countries which suggest that OSA is becoming more common."
A key strength of this research is that it is based on a large group of people who are representative of the French population. A weakness is that the study relies on a questionnaire to gauge the likelihood of OSA, rather than testing participants in a sleep clinic.
Professor Winfried Randerath, Head of the European Respiratory Society’s Assembly on sleep disordered breathing, who was not involved in the research said: “This research suggests that many people with OSA are not aware that their snoring and sleepiness are signs of a problem. We need to raise awareness of OSA because once people are diagnosed, they can be given treatment and advice to help lower their risk of other serious conditions such as stroke, heart disease and diabetes. Although OSA is more common in men, this study indicates that we also need to get better at spotting the condition in women.”
Dr Balagny and her colleagues will continue to study the links between OSA symptoms and cardiovascular diseases. They are also investigating whether screening for OSA could help heart attack patients.
END
Dangerous snoring may affect one in five people, but most sufferers do not know they have a problem
2023-05-11
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Research reveals majority of gig economy workers are earning below minimum wage
2023-05-11
As the cost of living continues to spiral, a new report shows more than half of gig economy workers in the UK are paid below the minimum wage.
The first-of-its-kind study, led by the University of Bristol, found 52% of gig workers doing jobs ranging from data entry to food delivery were earning below the minimum wage. On average respondents were earning £8.97 per hour – around 15% below the current UK minimum wage, which rose to £10.42 this month.
More than three-quarters (76%) of survey respondents also experienced work-related ...
You are what you eat: healthier diet may improve fitness
2023-05-11
Sophia Antipolis, 11 May 2023: A healthy diet is associated with greater physical fitness in middle-aged adults, according to research published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology, a journal of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC).1
“This study provides some of the strongest and most rigorous data thus far to support the connection that better diets may lead to higher fitness,” said study author Dr. Michael Mi of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, US. “The improvement in fitness we observed in participants with better diets was similar to the effect of taking 4,000 more steps each ...
Risk of long COVID higher for people living in most deprived areas
2023-05-11
New research led by the universities of Southampton and Oxford has found that the risk of long COVID is strongly associated with area-level deprivation, with the odds of having long COVID 46 percent higher for people from the most deprived areas, compared to those in the least deprived areas.
Published in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, the study analysed over 200,000 working-age adults and is the first to quantify the association between long COVID and socioeconomic status across a range of occupation sectors.
Analysing data from the Office ...
Singing humpback whales respond to wind noise, but not boats
2023-05-11
A University of Queensland study has found humpback whales sing louder when the wind is noisy, but don’t have the same reaction to boat engines.
Research lead Dr Elisa Girola from UQ’s Faculty of Science said this quirk of whale evolution could have consequences for breeding and behaviour.
“Humpback whales evolved over millions of years with noise from natural sources but noise from man-made vessels is foreign to their instincts,” Dr Girola said.
“It’s a ...
Investigators take first look at a second drug to combat sickle cell disease by turning up fetal hemoglobin
2023-05-11
AUGUSTA, Ga. (May 11, 2023) – A class of drugs used for their ability to stop tumor cells from dividing is now under study for their potential to reduce the pain and damage caused by sickle cell disease, investigators report.
The drugs are called HDAC inhibitors, and the investigators have early evidence one called panobinostat can reactivate after birth the gene that produces fetal hemoglobin, which cannot sickle, says Abdullah Kutlar, MD, director of the Center for Blood Disorders at the Medical College of Georgia and Augusta University Health.
Hemoglobin is the oxygen-carrying component of red blood cells, and with sickle cell disease it’s ...
Study shows hospital policy allowing nurses to initiate C. difficile testing could reduce infection spread and associated morbidity
2023-05-11
Arlington, Va., May 11, 2023 – A new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) suggests that allowing bedside nurses to independently order testing for C. difficile significantly decreased the amount of time to receive test results as compared to requiring physician approval. The findings suggest that the testing policy change could potentially decrease the risk of additional patient infections and the corresponding hospital economic burden.
Individuals with C. difficile infection (CDI) can be asymptomatic or have ...
Excess and rising weight in adulthood associated with increased risk of gastrointestinal cancer
2023-05-10
COLUMBUS, Ohio – Doctors have long stressed the importance of maintaining a healthy weight for improving overall health, but a large new study also suggests it could also reduce future gastrointestinal cancer (GI) risk.
The study, published today in JAMA Network Open, found that an overweight or obese body mass index (BMI) in early and middle adulthood is associated with increased risk for gastrointestinal cancer. The study also found that frequent aspirin use did not modify this increased risk in overweight and obese individuals.
Colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer among men and women in the United ...
CABBI researchers chart oilcane microbiome
2023-05-10
In a groundbreaking new collaboration, scientists at the Center for Advanced Bioenergy and Bioproducts Innovation (CABBI) have identified the types of microbes that associate with engineered oilcane. Further exploration of the oilcane microbiome may reveal opportunities to leverage plant-microbial interactions in these feedstocks, which could increase oil yields for sustainable bioenergy production.
In terms of biomass, sugarcane is the world’s most-produced crop, and it’s not hard to see why; it provides the feedstock for 26% of the world’s bioethanol and 80% of global ...
Drug discovered by SFU researchers shows potential life-saving results in treating cardiac arrhythmias
2023-05-10
Scientists at Simon Fraser University (SFU) and the Lankenau Institute for Medical Research (LIMR) near Philadelphia have found that a drug discovered at SFU and patented several years ago may have potential lifesaving results in the treatment of conditions leading to sudden cardiac death.
The drug, known as AR-787, was originally discovered and designed by former PhD student Mena Abdelsayed as a pharmacological solution for arrhythmias.
The so-called J Wave syndromes (JWS), consisting of Brugada syndrome and early repolarization syndromes, occur in about ...
Social conformity in pandemics: How our behaviors spread faster than the virus itself
2023-05-10
The behaviors and actions of hypersocial species like humans are heavily influenced by the behaviors and actions of those around them. This was evidenced throughout the COVID-19 pandemic; protective measures such as masking and social distancing varied widely as these behaviors were affected by where people were and who they were around, which in turn affected disease prevalence and transmission rates.
Now, researchers from the School of Arts & Science at the University of Pennsylvania and Queen’s University in Canada have produced a theoretical model for disease ...