SLEEP：睡眠呼吸暂停症会增大死亡风险
国文豪威廉·莎士比亚曾说睡眠是“受伤心灵的安慰剂”，睡眠是人类健康长寿的重要条件。美国科学家在8月1日出版的《睡眠》（SLEEP）杂志上发表文章说，睡眠呼吸暂停症会严重影响睡眠质量、增大死亡风险。
这项长达18年的研究证实，患有睡眠呼吸暂停症（又称睡眠呼吸障碍症）的人群死亡率明显高于普通人群。
打鼾是睡眠呼吸暂停症夜间最常见、最典型的症状之一。美国全国睡眠紊乱研究中心主任迈克尔·特维里博士介绍说，睡眠呼吸暂停症不会让人立刻毙命，但随着时间推移会侵蚀人体健康。特维里指出，患有睡眠呼吸暂停症的人群长期缺少睡眠，他们常常睡眠中断。如果连续几个周出现这种情况，就会有生命危险。
这种病症很难诊断。由于患者是在睡眠中出现这种症状，因此到医院的例行检查很难发现这种病症。
研究人员指出，睡眠呼吸暂停症会增加人们患心脏病、高血压、中风和糖尿病等疾病的风险，还会容易让人感到疲惫，白天经常打瞌睡。
这项最新研究结果显示，相比每年普通人群2.85%的死亡率，患有轻度和中度睡眠呼吸暂停症人群的死亡率分别达到5.54%和5.42%，而患有严重睡眠呼吸暂停症的人群死亡率则为14.6%。
特里·杨是美国威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校的研究小组负责人。他介绍说，普通人群中心血管疾病患者的死亡率为26%，而患有睡眠呼吸暂停症的人群，因心血管疾病死亡的比例达到42%。
推荐原始出处：
SLEEP，Volume : 31，Issue : 08，Pages : 1071-1078，Terry Young，K. Mae Hla
Sleep Disordered Breathing and Mortality: Eighteen-Year Follow-up of the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort
Terry Young, PhD1; Laurel Finn, MS1; Paul E. Peppard, PhD1; Mariana Szklo-Coxe, PhD1; Diane Austin, MS1; F. Javier Nieto, PhD1; Robin Stubbs1, BS; K. Mae Hla, MD2
Background:
Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a treatable but markedly under-diagnosed condition of frequent breathing pauses during sleep. SDB is linked to incident cardiovascular disease, stroke, and other morbidity. However, the risk of mortality with untreated SDB, determined by polysomnography screening, in the general population has not been established.
Methods:
An 18-year mortality follow-up was conducted on the population-
based Wisconsin Sleep Cohort sample (n = 1522), assessed at baseline for SDB with polysomnography, the clinical diagnostic standard. SDB was described by the number of apnea and hypopnea episodes/hour of sleep; cutpoints at 5, 15 and 30 identified mild, moderate, and severe SDB, respectively. Cox proportional hazards regression was used to estimate all-cause and cardiovascular mortality risks, adjusted for potential confounding factors, associated with SDB severity levels.
Results:
All-cause mortality risk, adjusted for age, sex, BMI, and other factors was significantly increased with SDB severity. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR, 95% CI) for all-cause mortality with severe versus no SDB was 3.0 (1.4,6.3). After excluding persons who had used CPAP treatment (n = 126), the adjusted HR (95% CI) for all-cause mortality with severe versus no SDB was 3.8 (1.6,9.0); the adjusted HR (95% CI) for cardiovascular mortality was 5.2 (1.4,19.2). Results were unchanged after accounting for daytime sleepiness.
Conclusions:
Our findings of a significant, high mortality risk with untreated SDB, independent of age, sex, and BMI underscore the need for heightened clinical recognition and treatment of SDB, indicated by frequent episodes of apnea and hypopnea, irrespective of symptoms
of sleepiness.
