Increasing burden on healthcare
The implications of sleep apnoea continue to be studied from a number of aspects, and there is little doubt that it is a common condition with possible serious consequences.
Research has shown, that a person deprived of sleep has the same impaired judgement and reaction time as a driver with an illegal blood alcohol concentration (1). This implies increased risk of that person having an accident while operating a motor vehicle or machinery.
The long-term risks of failing to treat sleep apnoea may include complications such as heart disease, diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure/hypertension further increasing the cost to the patient and healthcare provider.
Estimates on the presence of sleep disorders in such diseases is high (2):
From a cost perspective, the consequences of sleep related diseases in the US alone are estimated at (3,4):
38,000 vascular deaths accountable to sleep apnoea effects
800,000 sleep apnoea related highway accidents causing 1,400 fatalities
Overall cost of 16bn USD
Overall, it is estimated, today, that 4% of men and 2% of women in middle age (5) suffer from the condition (5).
(1) Haraldsson PO, Akerstedt T, Institutionen för öron-, näs- och halssjukdomar, Karolinska institutet. per-olle.haraldsson@ks.se . Drowsiness-greater traffic hazard than alcohol. Causes, risks and treatment. Lakartidningen 2001 Jun 20;98(25):3018-23.
(2) Logan et al., J. Hypertension 2001. Einhorn et al., 2007 In Press. Maisel et al., HFSA 2007. Sjostrom et al., Circulation 2004.
(3) Mehra, Reena. Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Cardiovascular Disease: Exploring Pathophysiology and Existing Data. Current Respiratory Medicine Reviews, Volume 3, Number 4, November 2007 , pp. 258-269(12). Publisher: Bentham Science Publishers.
(4) Sassani A, Findley LJ, Kryger M, Goldlust E, George C, Davidson TM. Reducing motor-vehicle collisions, costs, and fatalities by treating obstructive sleep apnea syndrome. Sleep 2004;27:453–458.
(5) Young T. The occurrence of sleep-disordered breathing among middle-aged adults. N Engl J Med 1993; 328(17):1230-1235.
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