Sleep apnea ups heart disease risk in kidney transplant patients
November 20th, 2009 - 2:00 pm ICT by ANIWashington, Nov 20 (ANI): Kidney transplant patients with sleep apnea are at an increased risk of high blood pressure, heart disease and stroke, according to a new study.
For the study, Miklos Zsolt Molnar, MD, PhD (Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary), and his colleagues examined the prevalence of sleep apnea in kidney transplant patients and the effects the condition had on their cardiovascular risk.
The study included 100 transplant recipients. The researchers found that moderate-to-severe sleep apnea occurred in one of every four individuals.
This rate was similar to that seen in a group of dialyzed kidney disease patients who were waiting for a transplant.
In addition, kidney transplant patients with sleep apnea were more than twice as likely to be taking three or more anti-hypertensive drugs as patients without the sleep disorder but still displayed higher blood pressure than patients who slept normally.
As seen in the general population, being obese increased patients’ risk of developing sleep apnea. When risk scores were calculated to predict patients’ risk of developing heart disease or experiencing a stroke, kidney disease patients who had sleep apnea had twice the risk as patients without apnea.
“We propose that sleep apnea is a new risk factor for hypertension and cardiovascular events in kidney transplanted patients. Physicians should screen transplant patients for obstructive sleep apnea and offer appropriate treatment,” Dr. Molnar said.
The study appears in an upcoming issue of the Clinical Journal of the American Society Nephrology (CJASN). (ANI)
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December 18th, 2009 at 12:55 am
There really is a better way to deal with sleep apnea than CPAP or surgery. I spent 4 years studying sleep apnea and I believe that the root cause is due to the attenuation of the signal from the brain to the diaphragm muscles when the sleeper enters stage II sleep. This un-intended side-effect of the “reduction of muscle tonus” that occurs during this transition causes breathing to stop. Then, when the CO2 level gets too high, the sleeper makes a rapid inhalation DRAGGING the soft tissue into the airway, obstructing it and waking them up. The reduction of the signal from the brain is causing the problem.
So… I found this herbal combination product that INCREASES the signal and keeps the breathing going. This addresses the root cause so you don’t make a rapid inhalation and drag the sagging tissues into the airway. The stuff is called Sleep Apnea Relief and I buy it from Nature’s Rite. I’ve been using it for 4 years and it is really great. So you don’t have to use CPAP. I just wanted to let you know.