Sleep apnea, a dangerous killer heart disease

Start off the large, March 28 (Reuters Medical News) Mayo Hospital in Rochester, Minnesota, hypertension and heart disease, Professor Dr. Virend Somers Wednesday at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) convened the meeting to report on Psychosomatic Medicine, sleep apnea may be Heart disease, hypertension and other cardiac disorders important reasons.

Sleep apnea usually snore very frequent apnea, and then a long-winded and panting, and often do not fully awaken. This apnea will put pressure on the cardiovascular system, resulting in elevated blood pressure.

For congestive heart failure and hypertension patients, doctors should pay attention to the existence of the problem of sleep disorders, especially in patients with poor response to standard treatment when. Unfortunately, the research and treatment of such diseases, doctors neglect of patients during sleep changes.

With sleep apnea do not compare the crowd, they found that normal blood pressure and sleep apnea patients in 4 years is more prone to high blood pressure, which suggests sleep apnea may lead to chronic hypertension.

With age, gender, body mass index (BMI) compared to the same normal, not accompanied by other diseases sleep apnea patients during sleep and awake more active sympathetic nervous system. Sympathetic nervous system to control some of the unconscious body functions such as heart rate, blood vessel contraction and so on.

Normal during sleep sympathetic excitatory decline, blood pressure dropped. The apnea patients stop breathing when the blood pressure drop, higher concentrations of carbon dioxide, caused by the sympathetic nervous system excitement. At this time to increase cardiac output, blood pressure has risen sharply disrupted the body's sympathetic and blood pressure normal adjustment.

The researchers also noted that apnea patients, blood pressure changes in heart rate greater than the rate changes. These two changes indicates that the occurrence of cardiovascular disease. Their endothelin (the body produce a substance-induced vasoconstriction) levels are higher.

The researchers believe that many patients with sleep apnea can be a continuous positive airway pressure treatment equipment. This equipment can produce an airflow through the mask into the nasal cavity. The treatment of sleep disorders standard therapy can help patients maintain the airway during sleep is usually to reduce the occurrence of apnea.