It is fascinating to contemplate the diseases and disorders that are encompassed within the wide net of sleep-related breathing disorders. I read today in the latest issue of the journal, Sleep of a study correlating heavy snoring and the development of atherosclerosis.

In this study, 110 volunteers, each with mild, non-hypoxic sleep apnea were studied. In other words, these volunteers were so mild that many of them would likely not qualify for treatment by prevailing insurance standards. These volunteers were grouped according to whether they were considered “mild” snorers (snoring 0-25% of the night), “moderate” snorers (snoring 25-50% of the night), or “heavy” snorers” (snoring more than 50% of the night).

All of these volunteers had their carotid arteries evaluated with ultrasound for the presence of atherosclerosis. 20% of the mild snorers had atherosclerosis developing in the carotid artery, as did 32% of the moderate snorers and 64% of the heavy snorers.

This study has enormous public health implications regarding the management of atherosclerosis and stroke prevention!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 14th, 2008 at 8:48 pm and is filed under Snoring. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.