Houston, Oct 25,2012: People suffering from sleep apnea may suffer less severe heart injury during an acute non-fatal Myocardial Infarction (MI) compared to those without the condition, according to a new study lead by an Indian-origin researcher. In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a person's breathing is disrupted during sleep because their airway becomes narrowed or blocked, causing pauses or decreases in air flow. Although the new findings do not contradict the widely accepted view that sleep apnea is a risk factor for heart disease that can lead to a heart attack, it do suggest that obstructive sleep apnea can provide some heart protection in the event of a heart attack, lead investigator Dr Neomi Shah said. Shah is the associate director of the pulmonary sleep lab at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. The study entitled, Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Acute Myocardial Infarction Severity: Ischemic Preconditioning, screened over 6,000 hospitalised patients on the cardiology units at Montefiore found that this degree of cardioprotection can reduce the severity of the heart attack. A number of factors led to this conclusion. First, acute MI patients with severe sleep apnea tended to have a lower median level of peak Troponin-T compared to those without OSA. Troponin-T is a marker in the blood for myocardial cell death and it accurately predicts the severity of a heart attack. In addition, patients with OSA had lower levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) as compared with non-OSA patients. CPK is an enzyme found in the blood and when it is high, it usually indicates that there has been an injury or stress to muscle mass. These novel findings suggest that OSA may be cardioprotective in the acute phase of a MI. Our results appear to be contrary to existing literature that identifies obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to be a risk factor for Myocardial Infarction, said Shah. While our data do not refute a widely accepted view that sleep apnea is a risk factor for the development of a coronary artery disease related event such as a Myocardial Infarction, our study suggests that obstructive sleep apnea can provide a degree of cardioprotection during the acute phase of a Myocardial Infarction.
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Sleep apnea can reduce severity of heart injury: Study
Houston, Oct 25,2012: People suffering from sleep apnea may suffer less severe heart injury during an acute non-fatal Myocardial Infarction (MI) compared to those without the condition, according to a new study lead by an Indian-origin researcher. In obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a person's breathing is disrupted during sleep because their airway becomes narrowed or blocked, causing pauses or decreases in air flow. Although the new findings do not contradict the widely accepted view that sleep apnea is a risk factor for heart disease that can lead to a heart attack, it do suggest that obstructive sleep apnea can provide some heart protection in the event of a heart attack, lead investigator Dr Neomi Shah said. Shah is the associate director of the pulmonary sleep lab at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City. The study entitled, Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Acute Myocardial Infarction Severity: Ischemic Preconditioning, screened over 6,000 hospitalised patients on the cardiology units at Montefiore found that this degree of cardioprotection can reduce the severity of the heart attack. A number of factors led to this conclusion. First, acute MI patients with severe sleep apnea tended to have a lower median level of peak Troponin-T compared to those without OSA. Troponin-T is a marker in the blood for myocardial cell death and it accurately predicts the severity of a heart attack. In addition, patients with OSA had lower levels of creatine phosphokinase (CPK) as compared with non-OSA patients. CPK is an enzyme found in the blood and when it is high, it usually indicates that there has been an injury or stress to muscle mass. These novel findings suggest that OSA may be cardioprotective in the acute phase of a MI. Our results appear to be contrary to existing literature that identifies obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) to be a risk factor for Myocardial Infarction, said Shah. While our data do not refute a widely accepted view that sleep apnea is a risk factor for the development of a coronary artery disease related event such as a Myocardial Infarction, our study suggests that obstructive sleep apnea can provide a degree of cardioprotection during the acute phase of a Myocardial Infarction.