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SAN FRANCISCO – Pregnant women who have obstructive sleep apnea have a 2.3-fold increased risk of gestational diabetes and a 4.2-fold increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension, compared with women without the sleep disorder, according to a poster presentation at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.
Previous research has suggested that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may induce systemic hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the general population, but the connection was much less clear in pregnant women, investigator Dr. Michael S. Nolledo of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Princeton, N.J., said in a press briefing.
“A lot of times for patients who are pregnant and for ob.gyns., sleep-disordered breathing is not on the radar screen,” he said. When a woman who's pregnant goes to see her obstetrician, the physician asks a zillion things but almost never inquires about risk factors for sleep apnea.
Dr. Nolledo suggested that physicians dealing with women with gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) should inquire about sleep-disordered breathing, especially because OSA is so simple to treat with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
“It may be a condition that you need treatment for just for the time you're carrying your baby,” he said. “Once you deliver, the sleep apnea may resolve.”
Dr. Nolledo acknowledged, however, that his study contains no direct evidence that treating sleep apnea will improve PIH or gestational diabetes.The study relied on data from the 2003 National Inpatient Sample, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This large database includes all inpatient records from a sample of about 20% of U.S. community short-stay hospitals and provides weights to calculate national estimates.
Using this database, the investigators calculated that there were 3,979,840 deliveries in the United States in 2003, of which 167,227 were complicated by gestational diabetes and 300,902 were complicated by PIH. The overall rate of sleep apnea for these women was 1.14/10,000–but that rate was 4.01/10,000 among women with gestational diabetes and 5.52/10,000 among women with PIH.
In an interview, Dr. Nolledo acknowledged that the overall rate of OSA recorded in the database is much lower than the 2%–4% rate of OSA estimated for the general population. He attributed this in part to the failure of physicians to ask their pregnant patients about sleep-disordered breathing.
ELSEVIER GLOBAL MEDICAL NEWS
SAN FRANCISCO – Pregnant women who have obstructive sleep apnea have a 2.3-fold increased risk of gestational diabetes and a 4.2-fold increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension, compared with women without the sleep disorder, according to a poster presentation at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.
Previous research has suggested that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may induce systemic hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the general population, but the connection was much less clear in pregnant women, investigator Dr. Michael S. Nolledo of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Princeton, N.J., said in a press briefing.
“A lot of times for patients who are pregnant and for ob.gyns., sleep-disordered breathing is not on the radar screen,” he said. When a woman who's pregnant goes to see her obstetrician, the physician asks a zillion things but almost never inquires about risk factors for sleep apnea.
Dr. Nolledo suggested that physicians dealing with women with gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) should inquire about sleep-disordered breathing, especially because OSA is so simple to treat with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
“It may be a condition that you need treatment for just for the time you're carrying your baby,” he said. “Once you deliver, the sleep apnea may resolve.”
Dr. Nolledo acknowledged, however, that his study contains no direct evidence that treating sleep apnea will improve PIH or gestational diabetes.The study relied on data from the 2003 National Inpatient Sample, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This large database includes all inpatient records from a sample of about 20% of U.S. community short-stay hospitals and provides weights to calculate national estimates.
Using this database, the investigators calculated that there were 3,979,840 deliveries in the United States in 2003, of which 167,227 were complicated by gestational diabetes and 300,902 were complicated by PIH. The overall rate of sleep apnea for these women was 1.14/10,000–but that rate was 4.01/10,000 among women with gestational diabetes and 5.52/10,000 among women with PIH.
In an interview, Dr. Nolledo acknowledged that the overall rate of OSA recorded in the database is much lower than the 2%–4% rate of OSA estimated for the general population. He attributed this in part to the failure of physicians to ask their pregnant patients about sleep-disordered breathing.
ELSEVIER GLOBAL MEDICAL NEWS
SAN FRANCISCO – Pregnant women who have obstructive sleep apnea have a 2.3-fold increased risk of gestational diabetes and a 4.2-fold increased risk of pregnancy-induced hypertension, compared with women without the sleep disorder, according to a poster presentation at the International Conference of the American Thoracic Society.
Previous research has suggested that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may induce systemic hypertension and diabetes mellitus in the general population, but the connection was much less clear in pregnant women, investigator Dr. Michael S. Nolledo of the Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Princeton, N.J., said in a press briefing.
“A lot of times for patients who are pregnant and for ob.gyns., sleep-disordered breathing is not on the radar screen,” he said. When a woman who's pregnant goes to see her obstetrician, the physician asks a zillion things but almost never inquires about risk factors for sleep apnea.
Dr. Nolledo suggested that physicians dealing with women with gestational diabetes or pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH) should inquire about sleep-disordered breathing, especially because OSA is so simple to treat with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP).
“It may be a condition that you need treatment for just for the time you're carrying your baby,” he said. “Once you deliver, the sleep apnea may resolve.”
Dr. Nolledo acknowledged, however, that his study contains no direct evidence that treating sleep apnea will improve PIH or gestational diabetes.The study relied on data from the 2003 National Inpatient Sample, sponsored by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. This large database includes all inpatient records from a sample of about 20% of U.S. community short-stay hospitals and provides weights to calculate national estimates.
Using this database, the investigators calculated that there were 3,979,840 deliveries in the United States in 2003, of which 167,227 were complicated by gestational diabetes and 300,902 were complicated by PIH. The overall rate of sleep apnea for these women was 1.14/10,000–but that rate was 4.01/10,000 among women with gestational diabetes and 5.52/10,000 among women with PIH.
In an interview, Dr. Nolledo acknowledged that the overall rate of OSA recorded in the database is much lower than the 2%–4% rate of OSA estimated for the general population. He attributed this in part to the failure of physicians to ask their pregnant patients about sleep-disordered breathing.
ELSEVIER GLOBAL MEDICAL NEWS