Having surgery--even a minor operation--is stressful. You want to make sure that everything goes according to plan for you or your loved one. Unfortunately, no surgery is without risk of complications. However, a new study points out an important way to reduce your surgical risk: treating your sleep apnea.
That's right: people who combated their sleep apnea with PAP (positive airway pressure) devices experienced fewer complications after having surgery than their untreated counterparts.
Treating Sleep Apnea Decreases Surgery Risk
The Study: Sleep Apnea and Cardiovascular Complications
A observational study published in SLEEP Journal1 examined the records of 2,646 patients with sleep apnea who underwent surgery in 2012 and 2013. Researchers recorded whether patients were treated with PAP or went untreated, and then examined whether those patients experienced a cardiopulmonary complication within a month of having surgery. Such complications include arrhythmias, cardiac arrest, myocardial infarction, unplanned reintubation, pulmonary embolism, and pneumonia.
Compared to PAP users, patients with untreated OSA were more likely to experience a problematic surgery. Untreated OSA sufferers had a 6.7% risk of cardiovascular complications, compared to only 4% for treated patients. For instance, the untreated OSA patients were two and a half times more likely to be reintubated.
Another analysis2 published in 2012 yielded similar results. After studying the data from thirteen different studies, researchers found that patients with sleep apnea were over twice as likely to experience postoperative cardiac events.
The main message of the recent study is that having sleep apnea increases the dangers of undergoing surgery. However, treating sleep apnea decreases surgical risk and makes it more likely that you or a loved one will emerge from an operation safely and healthily.
Sleep Apnea and Surgery: Chicken or the Egg?
Before conducting their analysis, the authors of the newest study looked at the records of 26,842 patients who had undergone recent surgery, and found that 10% of them had some form of sleep apnea. This is significantly higher than the population average.
It isn't surprising that sleep apnea sufferers undergo surgery at higher rates, or that they experience more complications than other patients. Sleep apnea is strongly correlated to heart problems like high blood pressure and heart disease. 50% of heart patients have sleep apnea3-4, and among patients with heart failure, those with sleep apnea die at twice the rate of healthy sleepers5.
PAP Takes Pressure off the Heart
Thankfully, PAP therapy provides a solution to the cardiovascular complications--surgery-induced and otherwise--faced by people with sleep apnea. PAP is virtually 100% effective at treating sleep apnea and can even reverse the health degeneration it causes. In addition to reducing postoperative risk, use of a CPAP machine has been shown to lower blood pressure within weeks of starting treatment.
The heart damage called by sleep apnea is serious and can be deadly if not appropriately treated. Using a PAP machine won't just make you feel better-rested and revitalized; it will also keep your heart healthy, and could even save your life. If you have sleep apnea, PAP treatment is an important part of caring for your health.
If you know someone undergoing surgery who may be at risk of sleep apnea, share this article and encourage them to get tested for sleep apnea to ensure that their surgery goes as smoothly as possible.
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Photo Credit: Artur Bergman. "CPMC Surgery." Creative Commons License.
