Sleep disorder, which is associated with loud snoring, affects 5 per cent of middle-aged men and 2 to 3 per cent of women
People who have a sleep breathing disorder are twice as likely to develop heart diseases, particularly cardiac arrest, after undergoing surgery, according to results of a global study.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) causes breathing to repeatedly stop and start during sleep and a common sign of the disorder is loud snoring. It affects nearly a billion people worldwide, with about 5 per cent of middle-aged men and 2 to 3 per cent of women suffering from the condition.
However, the lack of recognition of the disorder can lead to complications following surgery for some patients, said researchers at Chinese University (CUHK) who were involved in the study published in The Journal of the American Medical Association.
“Our findings show the risk of post-operative cardiovascular events in patients with unrecognised severe OSA is significant and twice those without the disorder,” said Matthew Chan Tak-vai, the principal investigator of the study and professor at CUHK’s Faculty of Medicine at a press conference on Tuesday.
Study observed 1,218 patients aged 45 and above from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and New Zealand
The study involved 1,218 patients aged 45 and above recruited from Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia, Canada and New Zealand. They had not been diagnosed with OSA, were undergoing non-cardiac surgery and had one or more risk factors of post-surgery heart complications.
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