Could the old reliable Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) be on the way out? Researchers in a new study published titled “STOP-Bang questionnaire is superior to Epworth sleepiness scales, Berlin questionnaire, and STOP questionnaire in screening obstructive sleep apnea hypopnea syndrome patients” contends that the STOP-Bang Questionnaire (SBQ) has “superior predictive value compared with ESS, Berlin questionnaire, and STOP questionnaire. It should be used further in screening for OSAHS in the general population.”

The study aimed to evaluate the value of the STOP-Bang questionnaire (SBQ) by comparing it with the ESS, Berlin questionnaire, and STOP questionnaire. According to the Chinese Medical Journal, 212 patients at the sleep-disordered breathing clinic of the Peking Union Medical College Hospital between May 2011 and January 2012 were prospectively included.

They were asked to fill in the SBQ, ESS, Berlin questionnaire, and STOP questionnaire before overnight polysomnography (PSG). Using PSG as gold standard, the sensitivities and specificities of SBQ were compared with those of ESS, Berlin questionnaire, and STOP questionnaire.

“Our study results showed that when comparing the value of ESS, Berlin questionnaire, STOP questionnaire, and SBQ in screening OSAHS patients, detecting moderate and severe OSAHS patients in the sleep-disordered breathing clinic, SBQ had superior sensitivity,” write researchers, “while ESS questionnaire had limited value in screening.”

Click Here for Abstract

The post STOP-Bang Superior to Epworth? appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

How do the circadian clock genes operate to generate and maintain the daily and seasonal rhythmicity in human cells? The final pieces of this puzzle have now fallen into place with research findings from the UNC’s School of Medicine.

The finding (published in the journal Genes and Development) could have far reaching implications. “We’ve known for a while that four proteins were involved in generating daily rhythmicity but not exactly what they did”, say Aziz Sancar and Sarah Graham Kenan, senior authors of the paper. “Now we know how the clock is reset in all cells. So we have a better idea of what to expect if we target these proteins with therapeutics.”

The four genes – Cryptochrome, Period, CLOCK, and BMAL1 – are known to work in a well-orchestrated feedback loop of protein expression and suppression to allow body cells kick-start and wind down the circadian clock. How exactly this happens at the back end was the mystery.

Researchers at Sancar’s lab at the UNC School of Medicine have now shown how the entire clock really works. On a well-founded assumption that the two genes Cryptochrome and Period may have complementary roles in this cycle, they conducted experiments to selectively remove and add the two genes to unfold the picture in its entirety.

This is a huge step in the development of drugs for various diseases such as cancers and diabetes, as well as conditions such as metabolic syndrome, insomnia, seasonal affective disorder, obesity, and even jetlag. Says Dr Sancar, “Now, when we screen for drugs that target these proteins, we know to expect different outcomes and why we get those outcomes…Circadian clocks in cancer cells could become targets for cancer drugs to make other therapeutics more effective.”

Click Here for Abstract

The post Fitting the Final Pieces in the Circadian Clock Puzzle appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

A new study finds that a class of drugs called benzodiazepines, marketed under such familiar names as as Xanax, Valium, Ativan, and Klonopin (widely used for insomnia and anxiety), all boost the chances of developing Alzheimer’s disease. As reported, the study from French and Canadian researchers compared the pattern of benzodiazepine use in 1,796 elderly people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s with that of 7,184 similar people who had no such diagnosis.

Such a study design…cannot by itself establish that more intensive use of the medications causes Alzheimer’s disease, but it does strengthen such suspicions. Frequent high doses were particularly worrisome, with such dosages adding up to regular use over several months. The widely prescribed medicines marketed as Ambien, Lunesta and Sonata (generically named zolpidem, eszopiclone and zaleplon) are “atypical benzodiazepines” and were not included in the analysis.

“The authors of the study created an index that gauged the intensity of a participant’s benzodiazepine use and found that at the end of a five-year period following an initial prescription, Alzheimer’s risk mounted steadily”. “Those who took the cumulative equivalent of daily doses for three to six months over a five-year period were roughly 32% more likely than those who took none to develop Alzheimer’s. Those who took the cumulative equivalent of a full daily dose for more than six months were 84% more likely to do so.”

Source: BMJ

The post Familiar Drugs Found to Boost Alzheimer’s Risk appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

Having multiple sclerosis is tough enough, but sleep problems on top of this devastating disease can actually worsen what’s known as “MS fatigue.” In fact, a new study suggests that these sleep problems might be the root cause of the fatigue.

The study ”The Underdiagnosis of Sleep Disorders in Patients with Multiple Sclerosis” is published online today in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.” was conducted by researchers at the University of California, Davis, with Data for the study coming from more than 2,000 members of the Northern California Chapter of the National MS Society.

The study shows that people with MS also suffer from sleep loss, which increases fatigue. “A large percentage of MS subjects in our study are sleep deprived and screened positive for one or more sleep disorders,” said Steven Brass, associate clinical professor and director of the Neurology Sleep Clinical Program and co-medical director of the UC Davis Sleep Medicine Laboratory. “The vast majority of these sleep disorders are potentially undiagnosed and untreated.”

For the study, the researchers reportedly assessed the quality of sleep of 2,375 participants enrolled in the Northern California Chapter of the National MS Society. Consistent with previous findings, a majority of MS patients were females (over 80%).

“Researchers found that around 52% of the respondents said that it took them more than 30 minutes to fall asleep, with 11 percent saying that they used medications to sleep at night. Around 38% of the participants had obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that leads to severe snoring and frequent awakenings,” wrote Nature World staff writers. “About 32% of the people had moderate to severe insomnia and 37 percent had restless leg syndrome. What’s disturbing is that just four percent of the participants with OSA were actually diagnosed by a physician, meaning that common sleep problems go unnoticed and untreated in people suffering from MS.”

Click Here For Abstract

The post MS and Poor Sleep a Bad Combination appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

A new article in venerable Time magazine boldly proclaims that a good night’s rest “isn’t a luxury—it’s critical for your brain and for your health.” The article by Alice Park highlights scientists’ beliefs that when the lights go out, “a legion of neurons springs into action, and like any well-trained platoon, the cells work in perfect synchrony, pulsing with electrical signals that wash over the brain with a soothing, hypnotic flow.”

“If every one of us slept as much as we’re supposed to, we’d all be lighter, less prone to developing Type 2 diabetes and most likely better equipped to battle depression and anxiety,” writes Park. “We might even lower our risk of Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis and cancer.”

The lengthy article documents “the consequences of skimping,” along with the myriad studies that vouch for the mental and physical benefits of proper slumber.

“Health experts have been concerned about our sleep-deprived ways for some time, but the new insights about the role sleep plays in our overall health have brought an urgency to the message,” writes Park. “Sleep, the experts are recognizing, is the only time the brain has to catch its breath. If it doesn’t, it may drown in its own biological debris–everything from toxic free radicals produced by hard-working fuel cells to spent molecules that have outlived their usefulness.”

Access the full article HERE.

The post Time Magazine Spotlights Brain Benefits of Sleep appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

Four-legged friends may help reduce the risk of asthma and allergies in children. According to a new study “Sleeping on animal fur in the first three months of life reduces the risk of asthma in later childhood” presented at the European Respiratory Society (ERS) International Congress in Munich, Germany earlier this week, allowing a child to sleep on animal fur during the first 3 months of life may also be enough to prevent asthma later on in childhood.

“Previous studies have suggested that microbes found in rural settings can protect from asthma,” said Dr. Christina Tischer of the Helmholtz Zentrum München Research Centre. “An animal skin might also be a reservoir for various kinds of microbes, following similar mechanisms as has been observed in rural environments. Our findings have confirmed that it is crucial to study further the actual microbial environment within the animal fur to confirm these associations.”

According to Hope Gillette at Voxxi.com, researchers followed more than 2,000 children from infancy to age 10, with slightly more than half of those children sleeping on animal fur during the first 3 months of life. At the end of the study period, children who had slept on animal skin were 79 percent less likely to have developed asthma by the age of 6 than children who had not been exposed to animal skin, with the decreased risk remaining for 41 percent of participants by the final age of 10.

“Parents, especially first-time parents, often go into lock-down mode, desperately trying to prevent children from being exposed to possible illness,” writes Gillette. “While it is beneficial to maintain good sanitation protocols and health rules, preventing children from experiencing natural immunity is considered more harmful than allowing them to occasionally become ill.”

Source: European Respiratory Society

The post Pets Can Lower Asthma/Allergy Risk? appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

Better breathing means a better brain? A new study “Global Brain Blood-Oxygen Level Responses to Autonomic Challenges in Obstructive Sleep Apnea” suggests the damage done in the brains of sleep apnea sufferers comes down to weaker brain blood flow. Paul Macey of the University of California-Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Nursing led the research, with funding from the National Institute of Nursing Research.

UCLA newsroom reports that Macey and colleagues measured brain blood flow in sleep apnea patients using a non-invasive MRI procedure called the global blood volume and oxygen dependent (BOLD) signal.

They explain that this method is typically used to examine brain activity, and since previous research showed that sleep apnea sufferers often have poor regulation of blood in the brain, they used the whole-brain BOLD signal to observe blood flow in participants with and without OSA.

“We know there is injury to the brain from sleep apnea,” says Macey, “and we also know that the heart has problems pumping blood to the body, and potentially also to the brain.”

“He explains that by using the BOLD method, they were able to observe changes in oxygenated blood amounts throughout the whole brain,” writes Ellis. “Participants from the study, which included both men and women with and without OSA, had their BOLD signals measured while they were awake during three physical tasks.”

Click Here for Article

The post Weaker Brain Blood Flow Linked to Sleep Apnea appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts

Include sleep apnea on the long list of health improvements associated with losing weight. The latest information comes courtesy of Brazilian researchers who found that cutting calories could improve sleep apnea and lower blood pressure in adults.

According to the American Heart Association Meeting Abstract 461 ”Restricting calories may improve sleep apnea, blood pressure in obese people” the study included 21 obese people, aged 20 to 55, with sleep apnea. Over a 16-week period, some reduced their calorie intake by 800 calories a day while the others made no dietary changes.

“At the end of the trial, the patients who reduced their calorie intake had lost more weight, had fewer breathing pauses during sleep, had lower blood pressure and showed higher levels of oxygen in their blood,” writes Preidt. The findings were presented earlier this wee at the American Heart Association meeting on high blood pressure in San Francisco. Data and conclusions of research presented at medical meetings are typically viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

“This study suggests that in obese patients with obstructive sleep apnea, moderate energy restriction can reduce not only body fat but also the severity of obstructive sleep apnea,” study co-author Dr. Marcia Klein, adjunct professor in the department of applied nutrition at Rio de Janero State University in Brazil, said in a heart association news release. “So moderate energy restriction in these patients has the potential to reduce cardiovascular risk. Losing weight was most likely the key to all the benefits observed in the calorie-restricted group. A greater reduction in systolic blood pressure can be explained, at least partially, by the reduction in body weight that was associated with reduction in obstructive sleep apnea severity.”

Source: American Heart Association

The post Weight Loss Linked to Sleep Apnea Improvements appeared first on Sleep Diagnosis and Therapy.

SleepDT

More Posts