Sleep-disordered Breathing in Postmenopausal Women
Condition: Sleep Apnea
MeSH terms: Sleep Apnea Syndromes
Study type: Observational

Summary: 
      The purpose of this study is to investigate the effectiveness of CPAP treatment to
      co-morbidities of sleep apnea by looking the change of the consumption of medication of the
      co-morbidities before and after starting the CPAP treatment.
    

Detailed description: 
      Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is frequently linked with cardiovascular diseases including
      stroke and type 2 diabetes, which increase the indirect costs of sleep apnea. Also
      non-cardiovascular co-morbidities are possible but seldom studied. CPAP treatment reverses
      the increased healthcare utilization seen before the sleep apnea diagnosis.

      Previous studies addressing the cardiovascular co-morbidities in SDB have focused on
      obstructive sleep apnea and in male populations, but not on partial upper airway obstruction.
      Partial upper airway obstruction is common in both genders but especially in women. According
      to investigators' clinical experience, women with partial upper airway obstruction are
      especially likely to have severe symptoms from their SDB. There are scarce data on
      cardiovascular co-morbidities associated with partial upper airway obstruction and the female
      gender.

      To study the prevalence of co-morbidities adding to the burden of SDB (periodic obstructive
      breathing and partial upper airway obstruction), investigators applied a conservative but
      robust strategy using the governmental database of medication reimbursed by the public health
      insurance system. Investigators analyzed both the cardiovascular and non-cardiovascular
      co-morbidities in our clinical population of SDB, separately in patients with periodic
      obstructive breathing or with partial upper airway obstruction during sleep.Investigators
      found that concomitant diseases ware common in SDB. Asthma and/or COPD were surprisingly
      frequent, and also chronic hypertension had an increased prevalence. In addition, males had
      diabetes mellitus and females hypothyroidism more than general population. The results
      emphasize the importance of diagnosis and treatment of the co-morbidities such as asthma,
      COPD, hypertension, diabetes and thyroid insufficiency regardless if the patient has partial
      upper airway obstruction or obstructive sleep apnea.

      Now, investigators hypothesize that CPAP treatment reduces the consumption of medication of
      the co-morbidities of sleep apnea. Therefore, a retrospective analyze of 5 year before and 5
      year after starting the CPAP treatment the medication consumption of the same population
      previously used will be conducted. To do this, the governmental database of medication
      reimbursed by the public health insurance system will be used.
    

Intervention name(s): CPAP treatment
Intervention type(s): Procedure
Observational model: Cohort
Time perspective: Retrospective
Sampling method: Probability Sample
Study population: 
        Clinical sample of patients with sleep apnea
      
Keywords: sleep apnea; co-morbidities of sleep apnea; CPAP treatment