Sleep Apnea affects an estimated 17 percent of American adults. The disorder causes constrictions in the air passageways while sleeping, causing snoring or actual stoppage of breathing when those airways collapse. A new study has linked the disorder to air pollution.
The problem with treating sleep apnea is that many people go undiagnosed; simply thinking they "sleep poorly." This is a problem as the disorder leads to other, more major diseases, like heart disease, high blood pressure and stroke. The study sought to find causal irritants in the hopes of lowering numbers of sufferers of sleep apnea.
The study, conducted by Harvard School of Public Health and Brigham & Women's Hospital, in Boston, specifically focused on air pollution as a possible cause of the disorder.
Air pollution is an irritant of the airways, lungs and even eyes. Researchers compared Sleep Heart Health Study sleep pattern data and Environmental Protection Agency data on air pollution for seven cities: Framingham, Ma, Minneapolis, New York City, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Sacramento, and Tucson.
After adjusting for age, gender, smoking habits and temperature, they found that sleep apnea and air pollution both increased as the seasons moved towards summer, when there are lower levels of oxygen present in polluted, sticky air.
Researchers believe that removing sufferers of sleep apnea from polluted environments could help, if not cure, the disorder. The study was published in the June 2010 issue of American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, and was funded in part by the U.S. National Heart Lung and Blood Institute, the EPA and the U.S. National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.
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