Reference:
Magnusdottir S. Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Chronic Pulmonary Diseases. J Respir Med 2017; 1: 2-7. https://www.omicsonline.org/open- access/obstructive-sleep-apnea-and-chronic-pulmonary-diseases.pdf
Objectives:
In patients with chronic pulmonary diseases such physiologic changes and the pathophysiologic changes induced by obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may result in worsening of the pulmonary disease and can contribute to worsened outcomes. Pulmonologists need to be aware of the importance of screening patients with chronic pulmonary disease for OSA, as patients suffering from both chronic pulmonary disease and OSA, termed “overlap syndrome”, have increased morbidity and mortality.
It is equally important to initiate appropriate treatment as CPAP treatment will improve quality of life, and prevent long-term respiratory and cardiovascular complications, with improved survival rates and decreased hospitalizations. The purpose of this review is to increase awareness of this association and provide pulmonologist with knowledge of how recent advances in sensor technology and computing now offer simple and cost-effective ambulatory methods to accurately screen for sleep disorders. This review should encourage more attention to symptoms of sleep apnea in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases.
Conclusions:
Sensor technologies now offer additional ambulatory methods to easily collect bio-signals like ECG, which provides opportunities and possibilities to collect objective data to analyze and improve clinical diagnosis and treatment decisions.
Practical Significance:
This improved ambulatory method to screen for sleep apnea will help clinicians to improve diagnosis accuracy for sleep apnea in patients with chronic pulmonary diseases. It can also provide objective evidence and feedback for these patients to assist in improving therapy management for both sleep apnea and related chronic pulmonary diseases.
