Could Asthma Increase Obstructive Sleep Apnea Risk?

Patients with asthma had a higher risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), according to a recent study.

In order to better understand the relationship between OSA and asthma, researchers evaluated 547 participants without OSA at baseline who received overnight polysomnography studies and health-based questionnaires at 4-year intervals during a period of 20 years.
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In the first 4 years, 22 of the 81 participants with asthma experienced incidencts of OSA, compared with 75 of the 466 participants without asthma. Overall, participants with asthma experienced 45 cases of OSA during 167 4-year intervals (27%) and those without asthma experienced 160 cases of OSA during 938 4-year intervals (17%). Asthma was also associated with new-onset OSA and sleepiness (RR 2.72).

“Studies investigating the mechanisms underlying this association and the value of periodic OSA evaluation in patients with asthma are warranted,” the researchers concluded.

The complete study is published in the January issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. 

-Michelle Canales

Reference:

Teodorescu M, Barnet JH, Hagen EW, et al. Association between asthma and risk of developing obstructive sleep apnea. JAMA. 2015 January [epub ahead of print] doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.17822.