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Many Patients With Sleep Apnea Also Suffer From GI Tract Conditions
GI problems go along with OSA -- probably most of you already suspected this:
ScienceDaily (Oct. 5, 2009) — Patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) also tend to have additional gastrointestinal (GI) tract conditions, such as gastric reflux and hiatal hernia, which form at the opening in your diaphragm where your food pipe (esophagus) joins your stomach.
In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers analyzed prospective clinical study data of 42 adult patients with proven OSA verified in overnight polysomnography. Every patient also underwent an upper GI endoscopy to evaluate their gastrointestinal health.
Pathological GI findings were found in vast majority of patients (83.3 percent), 59.5 percent of them showing two or more findings. The most frequent observed pathology was hiatus hernia (64.3 percent of patients), followed by erosive esophagitis (45.2 percent), histological esophagitis and erosive gastritis (both 21.4 percent), duodenal ulcer (7.1 percent), and biliary reflux (4.8 percent).
Approximately 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by episodes of reduced or no airflow throughout the night.
From their findings, the authors conclude that patients who appear to suffer from OSA should not only be investigated in sleep laboratory, but should also be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional diagnostic exams in order to provide a comprehensive treatment approach.
ScienceDaily (Oct. 5, 2009) — Patients who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) also tend to have additional gastrointestinal (GI) tract conditions, such as gastric reflux and hiatal hernia, which form at the opening in your diaphragm where your food pipe (esophagus) joins your stomach.
In a paper presented at the 2009 American Academy of Otolaryngology – Head and Neck Surgery Foundation (AAO-HNSF) Annual Meeting & OTO EXPO in San Diego, researchers analyzed prospective clinical study data of 42 adult patients with proven OSA verified in overnight polysomnography. Every patient also underwent an upper GI endoscopy to evaluate their gastrointestinal health.
Pathological GI findings were found in vast majority of patients (83.3 percent), 59.5 percent of them showing two or more findings. The most frequent observed pathology was hiatus hernia (64.3 percent of patients), followed by erosive esophagitis (45.2 percent), histological esophagitis and erosive gastritis (both 21.4 percent), duodenal ulcer (7.1 percent), and biliary reflux (4.8 percent).
Approximately 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by episodes of reduced or no airflow throughout the night.
From their findings, the authors conclude that patients who appear to suffer from OSA should not only be investigated in sleep laboratory, but should also be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional diagnostic exams in order to provide a comprehensive treatment approach.
Views: 127
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by RockRpsgt on
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Alot of techs will have GI problems due to their bad sleep habits. HMMMMM
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Permalink Reply by Lala on
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That's interesting. I almost think my cpap is causing me to have heartburn. I never get heartburn, but here lately, I'm waking up in the middle of the night with it. Twice in the past week.
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Permalink Reply by Judy on
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CPAP therapy CAN cause aerophagia which is air swallowing. I would take an uneducated guess that the aerophagia can aggrivate a weak LES sphincter. I was once told that MANY people have a slight sliding hiatal hernia. Conversely I can also understand silent reflux causing some scarring of the airway muscles. Which came first the chicken or the egg?
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I used to drink too much, it makes the apnea much worse, contributed to it for sure too. I even took Protonix(?) for GERD, but got over that. Lala- I think eating too close to bedtime is a problem, I know I can't "burp" with CPAP. I still take Pepcid AC ocassionally, works really well for me.
Lala said:That's interesting. I almost think my cpap is causing me to have heartburn. I never get heartburn, but here lately, I'm waking up in the middle of the night with it. Twice in the past week.
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You know Gordon, I think you hit the nail on the head. I think I may be eating too close to bedtime on occassion. Some nights my husband gets home around 8ish, and I will wait and eat with him. Probably not a good idea to wait.
gordon nelson said:I used to drink too much, it makes the apnea much worse, contributed to it for sure too. I even took Protonix(?) for GERD, but got over that. Lala- I think eating too close to bedtime is a problem, I know I can't "burp" with CPAP. I still take Pepcid AC ocassionally, works really well for me.
Lala said:That's interesting. I almost think my cpap is causing me to have heartburn. I never get heartburn, but here lately, I'm waking up in the middle of the night with it. Twice in the past week.
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Permalink Reply by Renee on
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This article is really interesting. Over the last 8 years, I've been diagnosed with just about all the GI problems in the article and more and, over the the last year as I have become totally and completely fatigued, I have been to many doctors to seek the root of my exhaustion. I expect it is no surprise that most every doctor told me that I was fine, nothing wrong with me, must be psychological. I did go to a therapist. He is one of the few who said he thought it was physical, but that had no effect on the medical doctors. Since I had GI problems in the past and they also became a serious issue again over the past year, I doggedly investigated that avenue - even having to leave my Internist and GI doctor when they dismissed my health issues - except to suggest possible surgery. My new Internist sent me to a GI doctor that found that I had some really serious GI problems that the other doctors didn't even find (yet they wanted to perform surgery), and the new GI doctor has resolved my problems for now with NO surgery.
So, all-in-all, I definitely concur with this conclusion about the corollary between sleep apnea and GI problems.
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