Tips on Sleep Apnea and Heart Conditions: Reasons To Take Earlier Action

Sleep Apnea Pathfinders

In episode 6, Juanita and David share a couple of areas people may benefit in taking earlier action around undiagnosed sleep apnea and developing heart conditions.
Often times, when a person is experiencing a heart condition they are dealing with a variety of issues emotionally and physically. The fact that ischemic heart attacks have been the leading cause of death, according to the World Health Organization for the last 20 years is staggering the consider.
The intersection of sleep apnea, strokes or heart attacks share a relationship which often is not the focus of primary and cardiac physicians. There's generally a lack of focus when blood pressure is not responding to medication. Nor is the possibility raised when an individual is experiencing atrial fibrillation also known as arrhythmia which is an irregular heart rhythm.
In this episode, we discuss how the fluctuation of oxygen seen in some who have sleep apnea can cause issues with blood pressure the next day. If untreated for months or years, it can lead to more chronic issues without this factor being taken into consideration.
Harvard Medical School indicated, that over time sleep apnea exposes the heart and circulation to harmful stimuli that may cause or contribute to the progression of most cardiovascular diseases.
Signs of a stroke.
Studies have show that not sleeping for long periods of time impact our blood pressure. So, untreated sleep apnea can lead to ongoing problems for individuals.
According to the American Heart Associations journal Stroke, " despite estimates of greater than 50% prevalence of sleep disorders after stroke, only about 6% of stroke survivors are offered formal sleep testing and an estimated 2% complete such testing in the 3-month poststroke period. The reasons for the low rate of screening are at least partly related to the lack of awareness about sleep disorders among stroke providers".
Another concern are those with atrial fibrillation. According to the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine, "the prevalence of sleep apnea is exceedingly high in patients with atrial fibrillation — 50% to 80%".
Those with hypertension should also be aware that sleep apnea has a high rate of prevalence. According to Medscape.com, systemic hypertension is observed in 50-70% of patients with OSA.
This episode also discusses medication resistant hypertension and studies which show the prevalence of sleep apnea being between 70 to 85% of people.
This information hopefully will lead to more action earlier & help empower patients to look at the relationship between undiagnosed sleep apnea and emerging heart conditions. When issues around blood pressure come up, consider filling out the Epworth Sleepiness Scale and talking to your physician about the possibility of having sleep apnea.