A recently published study investigated whether home pulse oximetry monitoring might be a useful initial screening method of determining which children with Down syndrome—who are at high risk of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)—be recommended to undergo multichannel sleep studies to diagnose the condition. The study is published in Archives of Disease in Childhood. The home monitoring was conducted using Masimo SET Measure-through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry.

Noting that OSA “can only be reliably diagnosed using multichannel sleep studies, which are expensive, demanding for families and only available in specialist centres,” Catherine M. Hill, BM, MSc, PhD, MRCP, FRCPCH, ES, and colleagues at the University of Southampton and Southampton Children’s Hospital sought to determine whether home pulse oximetry monitoring could identify children at high risk of OSA, and in particular which parameters could most sensitively detect this risk, as an initial screening step. To that end, they studied 161 children with Down syndrome, aged 0.5 to 6 years, of whom 25 were separately diagnosed with OSA. The patients were monitored overnight using Masimo Radical-7 Pulse CO-Oximeters (pictured), with

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By Sree Roy

Vikas Jain, MD, has taken on the challenging task of separating fact from opinion with regard to the impact of CPAP on comorbidities such as cardiovascular risk.

He became interested in the topic after recent studies, such as the Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular Endpoints (SAVE) trial, published unexpected results. (The SAVE trial found that CPAP plus usual care, versus usual care alone, did not prevent cardiovascular events in patients with moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea and established cardiovascular disease.)¹

“When you look at the evidence and separate the facts from opinion, it may be eye opening and may impact the way we tend to approach treating sleep-disordered breathing,” Jain says.

Jain will be presenting on this topic at the 2018 AAST Annual Meeting, to be held Sept 28-30 in Indianapolis. His breakout session is entitled “CPAP—All Pain and No Gain?”

Jain hopes his session will “spark a lively discussion and that individuals will leave with a broader perspective on treating sleep disordered breathing.”

Sree Roy is editor of Sleep Review.

Reference
1. McEvoy RD, Antic NA,

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In Illinois, residents of Pekin have a new closer sleep center to take care of their needs, reports the JournalStar.

Part of being able to treat a medical condition is identifying it through diagnosis. Earlier this year, UnityPoint Health made it more convenient for Pekinites concerned about sleep apnea to obtain a diagnosis by adding a sleep center to its Pekin campus located at 600 S. 13th St.

Get the full story at www.pjstar.com

Many older adults have a high risk for obstructive sleep apnea; however, evaluations for the condition are seldom performed, according to research published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, reports Healio.

“Although older age is a recognized risk factor for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), estimates regarding OSA risk and discrepancies in OSA recognition and treatment are primarily based on regional data from middle-aged adults,” Tiffany J. Braley, MD, MS, from the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and colleagues wrote. “Little is known about the national scope of OSA risk under-recognition, and undertreatment in older adults.”

Braley and colleagues conducted a cross-sectional study to determine the proportion of older Americans at risk for OSA who receive evaluations, diagnosis and treatment for the condition. The researchers analyzed data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study survey, which asked 1,052 community-dwelling Medicare beneficiaries aged 65 years and older about sleep disturbances. Questions from the survey were similar to the validated STOP-Bang questionnaire.

Get the full story at www.healio.com

People with sleep apnea are more likely to stick with treatment when they use a built-in humidifier, a Swedish study suggests, reports WHBL.

Apnea that isn’t properly treated has been linked with excessive daytime sleepiness, heart attacks, heart failure and an increased risk of premature death. Often, patients are prescribed treatment with masks connected to a machine that provides continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) that splints the airway open with an airstream so the upper airway can’t collapse during sleep.

To see what factors might influence whether patients stick with this cumbersome treatment, researchers followed 16,425 people who were prescribed CPAP between 2010 and 2017.

Get the full story at whbl.com

The Journal of the American Heart Society has released a new research paper that suggests sleeping too much may have a negative impact on health and mortality, reports Inquisitr.

The study found that people who sleep 10 hours a day or more are 30 percent more likely to die prematurely than people who get the standard eight hours. The risk for stroke and cardiovascular disease may also increase.

However, the results of the research are not entirely clear when it comes to causation and correlation. As CBS News medical contributor Dr. Tara Narula explains, the study might not be taking into account underlying conditions. Medical issues such as anemia, sleep apnea, and depression can contribute to a person sleeping longer hours and could be what the results are really telling researchers.

Get the full story at www.inquisitr.com

Three sleep experts are guests on “The Source” radio program.

New research suggests that sleep time patterns like using electronics in the evening can have a disruptive effect on the body’s natural clock. What habits are good or bad for bedtime?

From insomnia to sleep apnea, what are the most common sleep disorders? What are the symptoms and how can they be treated?

Get the full story at www.tpr.org