Researcher says it is important for cardiologists to screen patients for obstructive sleep apnea
TUESDAY, May 17, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) undergoing angioplasty may be at increased risk of a major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular event (MACCE) after their procedure, according to findings presented at the annual meeting of the American Thoracic Society, held from May 13 to 18 in San Francisco.
Researchers tracked 1,311 patients from Brazil, China, India, Myanmar, and Singapore who had undergone angioplasty with stents. Almost 60 percent of the patients were overweight or obese, and 45.3 percent were diagnosed with OSA. The patients were followed for a median of two years. Just 1.3 percent of those diagnosed with OSA were being treated via continuous positive airway pressure, by the end of the study.
The researchers found that patients with OSA had 1.57 times the risk of other patients of incurring a MACCE. The findings held after adjustment for age, sex, ethnicity, body mass index, diabetes, and hypertension.
“For cardiologists inserting stents for coronary artery disease, it is important to screen the patients for OSA,” study author Lee Chi-Hang, M.B.B.S., M.D., a senior consultant in the department of cardiology at the National University of Singapore Heart Center, told HealthDay. “And patients who have been diagnosed with sleep apnea should know about the strong relationship between sleep apnea and heart disease.”
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