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Sleep Apnea More Severe for Overweight People
New research reveals that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may cause more severe consequences in overweight people than in people of normal weight.(1) The study, published in the October 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found that greater oxygen depletion occurred in the blood of overweight people with OSA both during and after apnea events.
Apnea events are cessations in breathing during sleep that can happen up to hundreds of times a night, and that can cause significant reductions in blood oxygen levels. These reductions appear to be greater in overweight people, possibly leading to more severe outcomes. Since sleep apnea is related to the development of serious conditions such as heart disease and stroke, as well as daytime sleepiness and increased automobile accidents, all of these risks could be greater among overweight people with OSA.
The goal of the study, according to lead researcher Paul E. Peppard, PhD, assistant professor of population health sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, was to build on existing research that showed that overweight people have more frequent episodes of apnea during sleep. “In this study, we wanted to go a step further and measure how much the excess weight contributes to the severity of individual breathing events,” said Peppard.
The researchers were careful to account for age, gender, and body position during sleep, so they can be sure it was body weight that contributed to the severity of oxygen saturation reductions in the people with OSA. They note that it isn’t just obese people that suffer from more severe episodes of apnea; anyone above the normal maximum Body Mass Index (BMI) of 25 is at increased risk. A 10% increase in BMI led to a 10% increase in oxygen depletion associated with sleep apnea. In other words, the greater your weight, the greater the consequences.
This study adds to the growing body of evidence that excess weight is a significant risk factor for the development, progression, and severity of OSA. Doctors and sleep specialists need to be aware that their overweight patients might be suffering from greater oxygen depletion related to OSA, even if they have the same number of sleep apnea events during the night as normal weight patients. People with sleep apnea who are overweight should keep in mind that any reduction in body weight would be beneficial to reducing the severity of their sleep apnea events, and to improving overall blood oxygen levels during sleep.
1 http://www.sleepreviewmag.com/sleep_report/2009-10-28_04.asp