New dangers of snoring
Sleep apnea is a risk factor for many diseases
Respiratory arrest in sleep due to narrowing of the airways is not such a rare pathology: according to experts, it affects at least 7-13% of the population. Studies show that sleep breathing disorders are usually accompanied by the development of a "bouquet" of diseases, primarily the cardiovascular system, as well as neurocognitive disorders. And recently, scientists have expanded and clarified this sad list.
At the recent International Congress of the European Respiratory Society, scientists presented several studies on obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA), which is manifested by characteristic episodes of respiratory arrest due to complete or partial collapse (collapse) of the upper respiratory tract.
The provoking factors of the disease are obesity, smoking, alcohol and sleeping pills, as well as acute inflammatory diseases of the nasopharynx, allergic reactions, etc. In addition, chronic narrowing of the upper respiratory tract lumen is observed in a number of congenital and acquired pathologies, such as anomalies in the structure of the facial skull, foci of chronic inflammation (for example, in chronic tonsillitis), some diseases of the nervous and muscular systems.
Stopping breathing during sleep is accompanied by loud snoring, a decrease in oxygen content in the blood and the accumulation of carbon dioxide. The activation of compensatory mechanisms is often accompanied by partial or complete awakening. Violation of the structure of sleep leads to increased fatigue, a drop in efficiency and concentration, memory impairment, drowsiness.
Scientists from the University of Lausanne (Switzerland) clarified the effect of OSA on cognitive decline by analyzing data from 358 participants in the CoLaus/PsyCoLaus and HypnoLaus population studies aged 65 years and older, who were examined every five years, starting from 2003-2008. They confirmed that the decrease in oxygen content in the blood, which is accompanied by OSA, contributes to a decrease in mental abilities, and people over 74 years of age are most susceptible to this, and men are more affected than women.
At the same time, the decline in cognitive functions was selective: the speed of information processing, executive functions (the ability to plan, organize, prioritize, concentrate on specific tasks, use past experience) and verbal memory, responsible for the ability to memorize information in verbal form, suffered the most. But, for example, language and visual-spatial functions did not suffer.
Previously, the relationship between OSA and oncological diseases was also shown, but it is unclear what plays the main role in this case: OSA itself or its concomitant diseases and lifestyle factors. Scientists from Uppsala University (Sweden) confirmed this relationship by comparing data from 2,093 patients with OSA who have cancer and patients from the control group who suffer from OSA but do not have cancer. The analysis showed that patients with lung cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma had more severe manifestations of OSA.
Scientists from the Angers University Clinic (France) have shown that patients with more severe OSA often developed venous thromboembolism, the formation of a blood clot (thrombus) in the veins, which leads to a violation of the patency of the veins and can be complicated by the separation of the thrombus and its "jamming" in the pulmonary artery system. The risk of developing this pathology turned out to be almost twice as high in those who had more than 6% of the sleep time, the oxygen level in the blood dropped by more than 10% of the norm due to respiratory arrest.
The new data is not encouraging. A common symptom of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is loud snoring, although not everyone who snores has this pathology. But the presence of snoring should serve as an alarm signal indicating the need for consultation with a doctor, and, if necessary, timely diagnosis and treatment of this far from harmless disease.
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