According to the analysis of study data, obstructive sleep apnea patients should also be referred to a gastroenterologist for additional diagnostic exams in order to evaluate their gastrointestinal health.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a sleep-related breathing disorder that involves a decrease or complete halt in airflow despite an ongoing effort to breathe. Approximately 12 million Americans have sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is characterized by episodes of reduced or no airflow throughout the night.
People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea tend to also have additional gastrointestinal (GI) tract conditions, such as gastric reflux and hiatal hernia, which form at the opening in the diaphragm where the food pipe (esophagus) joins the stomach.
Researchers analyzed prospective clinical study data of 42 adult patients with proven obstructive sleep apnea verified in overnight polysomnography. Every obstructive sleep apnea patient also underwent an upper GI endoscopy to evaluate their gastrointestinal health.
Pathological GI findings were found in vast majority of obstructive sleep apnea patients (83.3 percent), 59.5 percent of them showing two or more findings. The most frequent observed pathology was hiatus hernia (64.3 percent of patients), followed by erosive esophagitis (45.2 percent), histological esophagitis and erosive gastritis (both 21.4 percent), duodenal ulcer (7.1 percent), and biliary reflux (4.8 percent).
References:
1. Nora Siupsinskiene, Kestutis Adamonis, Robert Toohill. Gastrointestinal findings in obstructive sleep apnea patient. American Academy of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery.
