New research underlines the importance of the treatment of sleep apnea to reduce the use of health care.
A new study that will be presented at the annual meeting Sleep 2024 found that sleep apnea is associated with greater chances of future use of medical care services, including hospitalization, among older adults.
The results show that participants over 50 years of age, affected by sleep apnea have 21% more likely to demand in the future any health service compared to those who do not suffer the condition. Specifically, people with sleep apnea had 21% more probabilities of hospitalization after verifying possible confusion factors that include demography, body mass index, health conditions and depressive symptoms.
Christopher Kaufmann, lead author of the study and Doctor of Public Mental Health and assistant professor of the Department of Health Outcomes and Biomedical Informatics at the University of Florida College of Medicine in Gainesville, indicated that “our research indicates that older adults who have sleep apnea are more likely to use health services in the future than those who do not have it. The findings are valid even after taking into account other factors that can contribute to a greater risk of using health services.”
According to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, almost 30 million adults in the United States suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, a chronic disease that involves repeated collapse of the upper respiratory tract during sleep. The moderate to serious sleep apnea is associated with a greater risk of medical problems such as hypertension, coronary arteries disease, atrial fibrillation, stroke and type 2 diabetes.
The researchers analyzed data from 20,115 participants in the Health and Retirement Study of 2016 and 2018, a representative cohort at the national level of medium -sized adults and older in the US. UU. The participants were surveyed on sleep disorders, including sleep apnea, in 2016 and their subsequent use of health services in 2018. Almost 12% of the participants sleep apnea.
Kaufmann emphasized the need to apply and treat sleep apnea in older adults to mitigate its subsequent effects on the impact of medical care. “Addressing sleep apnea can not only improve individual health states, but also relieve pressure on medical care resources, which leads to a more efficient and effective medical care provision,” said Kaufmann.
Funding #
This study was supported by subsidies from the National Institute on Aging and the Foundation of the Sleep Research Society. The research summary was recently published in an online supplement of Sleep magazine and will be presented tomorrow during Sleep 2024 in Houston. Sleep is the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Societies of the Sleep, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
- El paper Association Between Sleep Apnea and Health Service Utilization: Results from the Health and Retirement Study tiene los siguientes autores: Christopher Kaufmann, Jennifer Albrecht, Adam Spira, Atul Malhotra, Marcela D. Blinka, Vishaldeep Sekhon, Halima Amjad, David Roth, Alden Gross, Chien-Yu Tseng & Emerson Wickwire.