Link Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea And Family History Of death From Heart Disease

A new study showed that people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) are more likely than those without apnea to have a family history of death due to heart disease.

The relation between obstructive sleep apnea and heart disease is developing rapidly.

People with cardiovascular problems such as heart stroke, heart failure, high blood pressure have a high occurrence of obstructive sleep apnea.

Researchers analyzed the relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and death from heart disease by comparing the personal and family histories of 316 patients with OSA and 202 patients without OSA.

Regardless of the patien’s own heart disease status, there was a significant association between OSA and family history of death from heart disease.

The relationship between OSA and heart disease is that people with obstructive sleep apnea have other diseases. Your blood pressure rises when you are not breathing, the oxygen levels drop and excite receptors that alert the brain.

The brain delivers signals through the nervous system and tells the blood vessels to tighten up in order to increase the flow of oxygen to the heart and brain. The problems which take place at night occur during day time when the sleep apnea patient is awake.

There are other factors that increase the risk of obstructive sleep apnea and you cannot change the factors.

Factors which increases the risk of obstructive sleep apnea:

1. The main reason is that if other members of your family have OSA, you are more likely to get the disease than someone who does not have a family history of the disease.
2. Obstructive sleep apnea is common in age of thirty or above.
3. According to the recent studies, OSA may occur more often in women who have been through menopause.
4. Obstructive sleep apnea is common in men. According to the studies, men have two to three times risk of OSA than women.
5. Scoliosis, deformity of the spine, may interfere with breathing and contribute to OSA.
6. Consuming alcohol and taking other sedatives such as sleeping pills before going to sleep can increase the risk.
7. Obesity is one of the main reasons for this disease to occur. About seventy percent of people who have this disease are obese.
8. People who are obese have extra fat around the neck adding to the risk.
9. Enlarged tissues in the nose, throat, and mouth narrows or blocks the airway while you are sleep increasing the risk of this disease.
10. If you are sleeping on your back, the risk of OSA increases.
11. Poor sleep habits such as maintaining irregular time schedules to go to sleep and getting up in the morning may increase the risk.
12. Smoking can increase the risk as nicotine present in tobacco relaxes the muscles blocking the airway.

Apart from family history of heart disease, there are many factors which contribute to obstructive sleep apnea. The factors you cannot change to avoid obstructive sleep apnea are gender, age, menopause, and family history.

The factors you can change to avoid obstructive sleep apnea are avoiding alcohol, smoking, improving sleeping habits and aiming for weight loss.

People treated with CPAP machine for obstructive sleep apnea, have their blood pressure low at night and lower even in the daytime. If you take treatment to obstructive sleep apnea, your chances of improvement are better.