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February 2009
Winter Bulletin Online
Now
The Winter issue of our section
Bulletin is online now, with an article on home sleep testing, an update on
section activities, and a profile of our 2008 Specialty Practitioner of the
Year. Go to the SECTION
WEB SITE and click on “Bulletins” to read the issue.
National Sleep Awareness
Week Coming Up March 1-8
When the nation transitions to
Daylight Saving Time this March, people all over the country will once again be
thinking about that lost hour of sleep. As it has for several years now, the
National Sleep Foundation will be sponsoring National Sleep Awareness Week to
correspond with this attention on sleep, and the AARC urges members of the
Sleep Section to get involved by educating their communities about sleep and
the role RTs play in sleep diagnosis and treatment. Learn more about the week HERE,
and then plan to share your activities with your fellow section members by E-MAILING a summary and some photos to
Section Chair Karen Allen.
Bilevel Therapy Beats
CPAP for Heart Failure Patients with Sleep Apnea
A new study out of Johns Hopkins suggests
bilevel positive airway pressure is a more effective treatment for patients
with sleep apnea and heart failure than CPAP. The study was conducted among 24
patients who were randomly assigned to one of the therapies and then followed
for three months. The two treatments resulted in similar improvements in the
apnea-hypopnea index, but the bilevel therapy was more effective in improving
the ejection fraction; these patients saw a mean increase of 8.5% while CPAP
patients saw no significant change. The authors aren’t sure why bilevel therapy
performed better, but speculate it may prevent a reduction in stroke volume or
may be better at unloading the respiratory muscles and improving the work of
breathing. Conversely, CPAP may have a negative effect on stroke volume in
patients with low filling pressures. The study was published in the December
issue of CHEST. READ ARTICLE
Compression Devices Offer
Relief from RLS
Drug therapy can help people with
restless leg syndrome (RLS), but not everyone will respond to the treatment. In
addition, some patients suffer unwanted side effects from these drugs or cannot
take them due to drug-drug interactions. Researchers from the Walter Reed Army Medical Center may have a good alternative: compression devices. They
compared outcomes among 35 RLS patients who were randomly assigned to wear
either an active compression device or a sham device for at least an hour a day
during times when RLS symptoms were expected. All outcomes were significantly
better in the active device group, and for about a third of those patients, RLS
symptoms were completely resolved. The investigators published their findings
in the January issue of CHEST. READ ARTICLE
Could Sleep Arousals be
Behind CSA?
CPAP is known to reduce sleep
disruption and improve sleep quality in people with obstructive sleep apnea
(OSA). But while the therapy significantly decreases the apnea-hypopnea index
in people with central sleep apnea (CSA), it appears to have no effect on sleep
arousals or sleep quality. That’s the take home message from Toronto General Hospital researchers who compared results for 205 heart failure patients on
optimal medical therapy with or without CPAP. The authors believe instead of
being a defensive mechanism, as they are in OSA, sleep arousals may actually be
a cause of CSA. They call for more study to find out if preventing these
arousals could improve treatment for the condition. The study appeared in the
January 1 edition of SLEEP. READ ARTICLE
Study Finds Genetic Link
Between Diabetes and Sleep
A multinational team of scientists
has uncovered a mutation near a gene involved in controlling melatonin that
they believe might provide a genetic link between diabetes and sleep.
Specifically, the mutation, rs1387153, near the MTNR1B gene, was associated
with an increase in average blood sugar levels and about a 20% increased risk
for diabetes. The researchers believe an abnormality that affects melatonin
levels, which are normally low during the day and higher at night, might also
be disturbing insulin levels, which are higher during the day and lower at
night. They identified the mutation and its link to diabetes in a study
involving 2,151 people in France, then confirmed the findings in several other
large groups of people in France, Denmark, and Finland. The results were
published in the December issue of Nature Genetics. READ PRESS RELEASE
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