Sleep Apnea Patients at Greater Risk of Developing COVID-19 Complications, Study Finds
upstart writes in with an IRC submission for nutherguy:
Sleep apnea patients at greater risk of developing COVID-19 complications, study finds:
Researchers at the University of Warwick conducted a systematic review of studies that looked at COVID-19 patients and found that those who also had sleep apnea were at a higher risk of developing serious complications and dying.
"It is likely that COVID-19 increases oxidative stress and inflammation and has effects on the bradykinin pathways, all of which are also affected in obstructive sleep apnea patients," lead author Dr. Michelle Miller said in a press release.
"When you have individuals in which these mechanisms are already affected, it wouldn't be surprising that COVID-19 affects them more strongly," she added.
[...] While there are limited studies on the link between the nasal condition and the novel coronavirus, researchers say many of the risk factors associated with sleep apnea, such as diabetes, obesity and hypertension, are similar to those associated with poorer COVID-19 outcomes.
The findings were published Monday in the journal Sleep Medicine Reviews.
[...] The study acknowledged that more research is still needed to determine whether individuals with obstructive sleep apnea should be added to the list of vulnerable groups.
"Hospitals and doctors should also be recording whether their patients have obstructive sleep apnea as a potential risk factor, and it should be included in studies and outcomes data for COVID-19. We need more data to determine whether this is something we should be more concerned about," she said.
Journal Reference:
Michelle A. Miller PhD, Francesco P. Cappuccio. A systematic review of COVID-19 and obstructive sleep apnoea, Sleep Medicine Reviews (DOI: 10.1016/j.smrv.2020.101382)
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