Sleep apnea can cause many other health issues. Japanese researchers have discovered that sleep apnea may cause high levels of carbon dioxide to develop in the blood during the day. This condition is known as hypercapnia.
A team of scientists from Chiba University, led by Dr. Koichiro Tatsumi, performed a study of 1,227 obstructive sleep apnea patients.
Their tests indicated that 168 of the patients suffered from daytime hypercapnia. On of the factors included the fact that these 14% of the study’s participants weighed significantly more and had worse sleep apnea that those patients with normal carbon dioxide levels.
To take this study one step further, Dr. Tatsumi’s team studied the effects of using a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, which is a standard treatment for sleep apnea. 37 of the hypercapnia patients were given CPAP machines to use while sleeping. After 3 months, the hypercapnia had been corrected in 19, or half, of these patients.
As a result of the improvements in hypercapnia with use of the CPAP, the team theorizes that the two conditions, sleep apnea and high carbon dioxide levels, are related.
Dr Tatsumi said: “daytime hypercapnia in sleep apnea syndrome may be an end-product of a complex conglomerate”.
Their report was published in the medical journal Chest.
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