Sleep Apnoea Screening Encouraged For People with Hypertension, Diabetes

Maybe you are already familiar with the effects of lack of sleep. Lack of sleep can give rise to problems such as heart disease, heart attacks, heart failure, irregular heartbeats, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes. Now, not only people who lack sleep are at high risk; people who snore during sleep are also at high risk for these dangerous medical conditions. This is because people who snore may have a medical condition called sleep apnoea, which is a sleep disorder wherein a person stops breathing for periods during the night, leading to disrupted sleep and daytime fatigue. Since this can be deadly, screening should be encouraged among the high risk population.

So, how do you know whether you are high risk for sleep apnoea or not? You are at risk for sleep apnoea, if you have excess weight, if you have a thick neck, if you have a narrowed airway, if you are male, if you are old, if you have a family history of sleep apnoea, if you use alcohol and sedatives, if you smoke, and if you have frequent nasal congestion. However, recently, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine has recommended that people with high blood pressure or Type 2 diabetes should also be screened for sleep apnoea. This is because these people are much more likely to have obstructive sleep apnoea. 

Is this move justifiable? Yes. If concomitant sleep apnoea is treated in these people, there could be improvement of glucose levels and insulin sensitivity among people with Type 2 diabetes. There could also be a lowering of blood pressure in people with hypertension, thus leading to a lower risk for heart problems.

You can read more about this report on this article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/13/sleep-apnoea-screening-diabetes-hypertension-diabetes_n_3417723.html

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