Sleep Apnea Disorder

Sereno, the Center for Snoring Solutions, recently announced its affiliation with a sleep dentistry specialist.

“Offering access to a specialized sleep dentist demonstrates Sereno’s commitment to providing excellence in patient care and results for those suffering from these pervasive conditions,” says Matthew Mingrone, MD, president of Sereno, Inc. “The affiliation enables us to help more patients suffering from snoring and sleep apnea by targeting two additional areas, the tongue and the jaw.”

Snoring and sleep apnea are complex conditions often caused by several factors, including:
•The soft palate (the muscular part of the roof of the mouth)
•Obstructed nasal breathing
•Uvula (the soft tissue that hangs from the roof of the mouth)
•Size of the tongue and position of the jaw
•Lifestyle choices and aging Read the rest of this entry

Combat troops in Afghanistan suffer from high rates of sleep deprivation. Only about 10 percent of soldiers and 15 percent of Marines reported sleep problems over a 30-day period because of combat stress. And another potential culprit – video gaming and movie watching – accounted for less than 5 percent of reported sleep problems.

Respondents overwhelmingly said night patrols coupled with hot, loud daytime sleeping environments were the biggest sources of trouble. Nearly half of Marines surveyed cited those factors, and about 30 percent of soldiers.

Overall, the report based on a survey of more than 1,200 soldiers and Marines in 2010 showed morale plummeting while exposure to combat violence surged to new heights.Previous mental health surveys show soldiers and Marines are chronically sleep deprived and get far less than the recommended seven hours a night, said Army Medical Command psychologist Col. Paul Bliese.

The Army, meanwhile, has begun a study to determine just how much soldiers really are sleeping because.[  Read Complete Post By Chris Carroll at Stars and Stripes ... ]

National Sleep Therapy, a provider of equipment and services to patients with sleep apnea that uses a “closed-loop” model of follow up care with patients throughout the duration of sleep therapy, has announced the release of new data that indicate that 88.5 percent of the patients they serve meet the Medicare standard for continued use of the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device compared to a national rate of approximately 50 percent.

The 50 percent adherence rate during the three month evaluation period is attributable to varied factors, including that many patients find the device intrusive or uncomfortable. When patients fail to adhere to the therapy, they lose coverage for the CPAP equipment and in most cases their health worsens. The National Sleep Therapy approach suggests a new method for boosting CPAP adherence that will improve quality of life for patients and lead to significant cost savings for Medicare. The findings can be found in a newly published white paper. Read the rest of this entry

Researchers in Michigan have found that removing a kid’s tonsils and adenoids, he is less likely to wet the bed. 

According to US News & World Report, kids with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are more likely to have sleep apnea (interruptions in breathing while sleeping), and kids with sleep apnea are more likely to bed their beds.

Researchers opine that it is always better to take away the tonsils and adenoids, and voila! You take away the bedwetting. Read the rest of this entry

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) effectively decreases the risk of cardiovascular death in elderly patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted by researchers in Spain. The study is the first large-scale study to assess the impact of OSA and the effectiveness of CPAP treatment in cardiovascular mortality in the elderly.

The findings will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver. “Our study offers two key conclusions,” said Miguel Angel Martinez-Garcia, MD, study lead author pneumonologist at the Hospital General de Requena in Valencia, Spain. Read the rest of this entry

Researchers in Spain have identified a link between obstructive sleep apnea and cancer growth in mice. The intermittent interruption of breathing that occurs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has shown association with enhanced proliferation of melanoma cancer cells and increased tumour growth in mice.

“To our knowledge, this study is the first one providing experimental evidence that a high-rate intermittent lack of oxygen, or hypoxia, mimicking the one experienced by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients enhances tumour growth,” said Ramon Farre, professor of physiology at the University of Barcelona School of Medicine Biophysics and Bioengineering Lab. Read the rest of this entry

Scientists say sleep deprivation also slows your metabolism down as well. Researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden found that insomnia could encourage you to pile on the pounds by slowing down the rate at which the body burns calories.

Study leader Christian Benedict, said: ‘Our findings show that one night of sleep deprivation acutely reduces energy expenditure in healthy men, which suggests sleep contributes to the acute regulation of daytime energy expenditure in huma

Older studies have linked sleep deprivation with weight gain and also shown how disrupted sleep also disrupts levels of stress – and hunger-related hormones during waking hours. Read the rest of this entry

Obese, asthmatic, anxious or depressed children are more likely to experience excessive daytime sleepiness, or EDS, according to Penn State College of Medicine sleep researchers.

“Although excessive daytime sleepiness in children is commonly assumed by physicians and the public to be the result of sleep-disordered breathing or inadequate sleep, our data suggest that EDS in young children is more strongly associated with obesity and mood issues as it is in adults,” said Edward Bixler, professor of psychiatry and vice chair of research at the Sleep Research and Treatment Center.

Excessive daytime sleepiness is the inability to stay awake during the day, while sleep-disordered breathing is a group of disorders that includes sleep apnea, characterized by pauses in breathing. Read the rest of this entry

Removing enlarged tonsils and adenoids may help prevent high blood pressure and heart damage in children who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a study conducted at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center. In some children with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), adenotonsillectomy can result in significantly lower blood pressure within 24 months of the procedure.

The results will be presented at the ATS 2011 International Conference in Denver.

Children with enlarged tonsils and adenoids are particularly prone to developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), said study lead author Lisa Burns, MD, (Pulmonary Fellow at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center). And, in children and adults, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been linked with elevations in both daytime and nighttime blood pressure. obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can also interfere with the normal “dip” in blood pressure levels that occur during sleep. Persistent elevations in blood pressure can result in organ damage, including heart damage. Read the rest of this entry

A study presented today at the American Psychiatric Association’s annual meeting suggests that sleep disturbances like obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), excessive awakening and insomnia, may be a normal result of combat experience, rather than a symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), traumatic brain injury (TBI), major depression or other psychiatric conditions.

The retrospective study, which will be published this summer as “Sleep Disruption Among Returning Combat Veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan” in the peer-reviewed journal Military Medicine, examined the electronic medical records of recently redeployed soldiers complaining of sleep disturbances. The purpose of the study was to uncover the relationship between common combat-related conditions among active duty military personnel and the frequency of a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA ) and other sleep problems. Read the rest of this entry

Childhood obesity in Ohio is at 33.3% according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Cincinnati weight loss problems mount as the state will pay $3.304 billion in annual medical costs of obesity.

One in three children are overweight or obese. Childhood obesity has increased over 300% in the past 30 years according to the CDC (Center for Disease Control). Obesity among children aged 6 to 11 years increased from 6.5% in 1980 to 19.6% in 2008. Obesity among adolescents aged 12 to 19 years increased from 5.0% to 18.1% during the same time period. Read the rest of this entry

Sleeping the day away can lead to insomnia, and that can be costly to treat. “This can be fairly common when people don’t have a regular schedule, if they’re on vacation, or unemployed,” says Dr. Michael J. Breus, WebMD’s sleep expert and author of the Sleep Doctor’s Diet Plan.

The insomnia borne of oversleep can lead to obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension; co-payments for related medications run $30 to $40 per month. Sleep aids like Tylenol PM run another $15 a month. And being up all night in the Internet age can lead to torching an extra few dollars on books at Amazon.com or downloads at Apple’s iTunes store. [ Read Complete Post at FORBES ... ]

Excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) is a major but not universally present feature of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS). The latter has been associated with glucose dysmetabolism and insulin resistance. The aim of this study was to examine the role of EDS by investigating potential differences between somnolent and non-somnolent OSAS patients in glucose metabolism, insulin resistance, and levels of cardiovascular risk factors.

Methods Included were 25 newly diagnosed otherwise healthy OSAS patients, reporting EDS and 25 age- and BMI-matched, non-somnolent OSAS patients, who served as controls. Fasting glucose and insulin levels, as well as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMAIR) index, levels of hs-CRP, and lipidemic profile were measured. Read the rest of this entry