Health Risks
Many studies indicate the effect of a "fight or flight" response on the body that happens with each apneic event is what increases health risks and consequences in OSA. The fight or flight response causes many hormonal changes in the body; those changes, coupled with the low oxygen saturation level of the blood, cause damage to the body over time.
Without treatment, the sleep deprivation and lack of oxygen caused by sleep apnea increases health risks such as cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure, stroke, diabetes, clinical depression, weight gain and obesity.
The most serious consequence of untreated OSA is to the heart. Sleep apnea sufferers have a 30% higher risk of heart attack or death than those unaffected. In severe and prolonged cases, increased in pulmonary pressures are transmitted to the right side of the heart. This can result in a severe form of congestive heart failure known as cor pulmonale. One prospective study showed patients with OSA, compared with healthy controls, initially had statistically significant increases in vascular endothelial growth factor (P=.003) and significantly lower levels of nitrite-nitrate (P=.008), which might be pathogenic factors in the cardiovascular complications of OSA. These factors reversed to normal levels after 12 weeks of treatment by CPAP, but further long-term trials are needed to assess the impact of this therapy.
Elevated arterial pressure (i.e., hypertension) can be a consequence of OSA syndrome. When hypertension is caused by OSA, it is distinctive in that, unlike most cases (so-called essential hypertension), the readings do not drop significantly when the individual is sleeping. Stroke is also known to be associated with OSA.
Read more about this topic: Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Famous quotes containing the words health and/or risks:
“In our great concern about the mental health of children, however, we have overlooked the mental health of mothers. They have been led to believe that their children’s needs must not be frustrated, and therefore all of their own normal angers, the normal ambivalences of living, are not permissible. The mother who has “bad” feelings toward her child is a bad mother.”
—Elaine Heffner (20th century)
“There are risks which are not acceptable: the destruction of humanity is one of them.”
—Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)