Sleep apnea may hold hidden dangers for women

Monday 28 October 2013 - 3am PSTFeatured ArticleAcademic Journal Current ratings for:
Sleep apnea may hold hidden dangers for women
A new study on sleep apnea reveals there could be some hidden dangers - particularly for women who have the condition - where breathing is interrupted during sleep. Women with sleep apnea may appear healthy, but they have subtle symptoms so their sleep problem is often misdiagnosed.
Now, new research, led by the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) School of Nursing, shows that the body's autonomic responses, which normally control blood pressure, heart rate, sweating and other basic functions, are not as strong in people with obstructive sleep apnea, and even less so in women.
Obstructive sleep apnea is a serious condition that happens when the person is asleep, sometimes hundreds of times a night. When it occurs, blood oxygen drops and eventually damages many cells of the body.
There are over 20 million adult Americans living with the condition, note the researchers, who explain that it is linked with several serious health problems and also early death.
Women are much less likely to be diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea than men.
Lead researcher Dr. Paul Macey says:

"We now know that sleep apnea is a precursor to bigger health issues. And for women in particular, the results could be deadly."

Dr. Macey and his colleagues describe their work in a recent online issue of PLOS ONE
.
For their study, the team recruited 94 adult men and women, comprising 37 newly diagnosed, untreated obstructive sleep (OSA) patients and 57 healthy volunteers to act as controls.
The three groups had their heart rates measured as they went through three different physical challenges:
The Valsalva maneuver - where they had to breathe out hard while keeping the mouth closedA hand-grip challenge - where they had to just squeeze hard with one handA cold pressor challenge - where the right foot is inserted into near-freezing water for a minute.
The team notes the main results:

"Heart rate responses showed lower amplitude, delayed onset and slower rate changes in OSA patients over healthy controls, and impairments may be more pronounced in females."

Dr. Macey adds:

"This may mean that women are more likely to develop symptoms of heart disease, as well as other consequences of poor adaptation to daily physical tasks. Early detection and treatment may be needed to protect against damage to the brain and other organs."

The team now intends to investigate if the usual treatments for OSA, such as continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), help to improve the autonomic responses.
CPAP is where a machine helps the OSA patient breathe more easily while asleep.
Funds from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Nursing Research helped finance the study.
In another study published recently, researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, found that sleep apnea is linked to early sign of heart failure.
Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Copyright: Medical News Today
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I’ll see your animal rescue bikers and raise you…

These tough bikers have a soft spot: aiding child-abuse victims. Anytime, anywhere, for as long as it takes the child to feel safe, these leather-clad guardians will stand tall and strong against the dark, and the fear, and those who seek to harm.The girl chewing on her lip was abused by a relative, according to police reports – someone she should have been able to trust. He’s not in the state any longer, but the criminal case is progressing slowly, so he’s not in jail, either. He still terrorizes her at night, even though he’s nowhere near. She wakes, heart pounding. The nightmare feels real again. She never feels safe, even with her parents just downstairs. The unruly-looking mob in her driveway is there to help her feel safe again. They are members of the Arizona chapter of Bikers Against Child Abuse International, and they wear their motto on their black leather vests and T-shirts: “No child deserves to live in fear.”

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My take on Buzzfeed’s DIY projects.

I’ve always wanted a lumpy, flimsy body pillow!People are going to start leaving their garbage on your porch.

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Segment sleeping arrangements to control malaria

Wednesday 20 November 2013 - 1am PSTCurrent ratings for:
Segment sleeping arrangements to control malaria

Better malaria control might come from segregating household sleeping arrangements, according to a new study co-authored by a University of Guelph professor.

The researchers found malaria eradication related more to household size than to a country's wealth or temperature. Guelph economics professor Ross McKitrick and two Finnish professors, Larry and Lena Huldén, found that when average household size drops below four persons, malaria extermination is much more likely.

Malaria is transmitted by infected mosquitoes. The research team examined data on malaria insect vectors, as well as demographic, sociological and environmental factors for 232 countries. Malaria is still prevalent in 106 countries.

"When we controlled for all the variables, the factor that had the most explanatory power on malaria control was household size," said McKitrick.

"Malaria-bearing mosquitoes mainly feed at night, and tend to return to the same location for blood meals. The more people who sleep in one area, the greater the likelihood of an infected mosquito spreading the parasite to a new, uninfected victim."

Malaria infects red blood cells and can cause anemia, nausea, fever and, in some cases, death. Each year, 225 million people are infected and 800,000 die, mostly children.

"It is a common misconception that malaria is a tropical disease, and with 90 per cent of malaria deaths taking place in Africa, it is easy to see why people believe this," said McKitrick.

"But historically, malaria has occurred in all climate zones including the Arctic, and was endemic in North America and Europe a hundred years ago. In many cases, the disease disappeared even in countries that made no efforts to fight it, while others that tried to eradicate it failed. We found declining average household size key to explaining this pattern. "

The researchers looked at factors such as gross domestic product per capita, urbanization and slums, latitude, mean temperature, forest coverage, national DDT use, household size and even religion.

Countries with a significant Muslim population generally had large households but did a better job of eradicating malaria, with the researchers speculating it may be because of their segregated sleeping arrangements. Males and females generally sleep in separate areas.

As household size continues to decline, McKitrick said malaria should gradually disappear. But countries need not wait for that to happen.

In Vanuatu - with an average 5.6 people per household - providing bed nets and effective drug distribution and surveillance since 1996 has effectively wiped out malaria.

"The key factor is segmenting sleeping quarters and greater use of bed nets in those countries where malaria is still prevalent," he said.

"Individual bed nets can emulate a household with several bedrooms, making it difficult for the mosquitoes to transmit the parasite to other household members."

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SIDS: Brainstem abnormalities found in infants, in both safe and unsafe sleep environments

Wednesday 13 November 2013 - 12am PST Current ratings for:
SIDS: Brainstem abnormalities found in infants, in both safe and unsafe sleep environments

Investigators at Boston Children's Hospital report that infants dying suddenly and unexpectedly, in both safe and unsafe sleep environments, have underlying brainstem abnormalities and are not all normal prior to death.

The researchers also point to the need to detect and treat this underlying vulnerability early, the focus of their current work. They report their findings in the December issue of Pediatrics.

The investigators, led by Hannah Kinney, MD, a neuropathologist at Boston Children's, have shown over the past two decades that infants who die suddenly, unexpectedly and without explanation - whose deaths are generally attributed to sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) - have differences in brainstem chemistry that set them apart from infants dying of other causes.

These abnormalities impair brainstem circuits that help control breathing, heart rate, blood pressure and temperature control during sleep, and, the researchers believe, prevent sleeping babies from rousing when they rebreathe too much carbon dioxide (due to inadequate ventilation) or become overheated (from overbundling).

At the same time, epidemiologic studies have shown that infants dying suddenly and unexpectedly are often found in unsafe sleep environments, such as sleeping face down with their face in the pillow, or sleeping with another person in the bed.

In the new study, Kinney and colleagues asked if these infants are truly normal. They reexamined their data, reviewing the cases of 71 infants who died suddenly and unexpectedly, were autopsied at the San Diego County Medical Examiner's office from 1997 to 2008, and had brainstem samples available for analysis. The researchers grouped the infants according to sleep circumstances - those considered safe (asphyxia not likely) or unsafe (asphyxia likely) based upon death-scene investigation reports.

In the end, they compared 15 infants with SIDS whose deaths were deemed not to involve asphyxia (group A), 35 SIDS infants whose deaths were possibly asphyxia-related (group B) and 9 infants who clearly died from other causes (controls). They excluded the other infants, who either had insufficient data or had evidence of other clear risk factors for death, such as exposure to drugs or extremes of temperature.

Brainstem neurochemical abnormalities - involving serotonin, serotonin receptors, GABA receptors and 14-3-3 (a protein that regulates serotonin) - were found in both group A and group B. Neurochemical measures didn't differ significantly between the two groups, but each group differed significantly from the controls.

"Even the infants dying in unsafe sleep environments had an underlying brainstem abnormality that likely made them vulnerable to sudden death if there was any degree of asphyxia," Kinney says. "The abnormality prevents the brainstem from responding to the asphyxial challenge and waking."

The investigators believe these findings confirm that sudden unexplained death in infants is associated with underlying vulnerabilities, and that not all infants who die in compromised sleep environments are normal.

"Certainly, there are unsafe sleeping environments that can cause any baby to die, such as entrapment in the crib, but if it's just sleeping face down, the baby who dies may have an underlying brainstem vulnerability," says Kinney. "We have to find ways to test for this underlying vulnerability in living babies and then to treat it. Our team is focused now upon developing such a test and treatment.

"Safe sleep practices absolutely remain important, so these infants are not put in a potentially asphyxiating situation that they cannot respond to," she adds.

Funders of the study included the National Institutes of Health, the National Institute of Child Health and Development (# R01-HD20991), First Candle, the CJ Foundation for SIDS, the Jacob Neil Boger Foundation for SIDS, the Marley Jaye Cerella Foundation for SIDS, River's Gift and the Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities Research Center at Boston Children's Hospital (# P30-HD18655).

Bradley Randall, MD, of the University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine, was the study's first author. Co-authors were David Paterson, PhD, Kevin Broadbelt, PhD, Jhodie Duncan, PhD, and Othon Mena, MD, Boston Children's Hospital; Elisabeth Haas, MPH and Henry Krous, MD, University of California, San Diego; and Felicia Trachtenberg, PhD, New England Research Institutes (Watertown, MA).

Boston Children's Hospital

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Consistent sleep patterns tied to healthier weight

Tuesday 19 November 2013 - 8am PSTFeatured ArticleAcademic Journal Current ratings for:
Consistent sleep patterns tied to healthier weight

A new study published online recently in the American Journal of Health Promotion suggests that keeping to a consistent sleep routine may help people maintain a healthier weight.

Bruce Bailey, a professor in exercise science at Brigham Young University in Provo, UT, and colleagues found that women who woke at the same time and went to sleep at the same every day had lower body fat.

Prof. Bailey suggests going to bed late and sleeping in may do more harm than good:

"We have these internal clocks and throwing them off and not allowing them to get into a pattern does have an impact on our physiology."

Researchers found that women whose sleep routines are more consistent have the least amount of body fat.

While previous studies have looked at sleep patterns and weight, this is the first study to look at the link between consistency of bed and wake time and body fat.

For their study, the researchers examined data on more than 300 young women aged between 17 and 26 attending two major Western US universities.

At the start of the study period, the women were assessed for body composition and were then given activity trackers to record their movements during the day and their sleep patterns at night for 7 consecutive days and nights.

The results showed that:

A consistent bed time, but particularly a consistent wake time, were linked to lower body fat.Sleeping less than 6.5 or more than 8.5 hours a night was tied to higher body fat.Sleeping between 8 and 8.5 hours a night was tied to the lowest levels of body fat.Quality of sleep also appears to make a difference to body composition.Participants whose wake and sleep time varied by more than 90 minutes had more body fat than those whose variations were limited to 60 minutes.

The researchers said they found wake time was particularly tied to body fat. The participants who consistently woke at the same time every day had the least body fat.

Prof. Bailey suggests consistent sleep patterns are probably closely tied to good sleep hygiene.

Altering sleep hygiene likely changes patterns of physical activity, which in turn alters hormones involved with digestion, with a knock-on effect on body fat.

Prof. Bailey's recipe for improving sleep quality is to exercise, keep your bedroom cool, dark and quiet, and only use your bed for sleeping in. He adds that:

"Sleep is often a casualty of trying to do more and be better and it is often sacrificed, especially by college students, who kind of wear it as a badge of honor."

In 2010, researchers reported in the Annals of Internal Medicine that insufficient sleep can make dieters lose muscle instead of fat.

They found participants on a low-calorie diet lost the same amount of weight whether they slept an average of 8.5 hours or 5.5 hours each night. However, while they lost the same amount of weight, the composition was different.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without the permission of Medical News Today.

Objectively Measured Sleep Patterns in Young Adult Women and the Relationship to Adiposity; Bruce W. Bailey, Matthew D. Allen, James D. LeCheminant, Larry A. Tucker, William K. Errico, William F. Christensen, and Marshall D. Hill; American Journal of Health Promotion, In Press, published online 7 November 2013; DOI: 10.4278/ajhp.121012-QUAN-500; Abstract.

Additional source: Brigham Young University news release 13 November 2013.

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More sleep for children may decrease calorie intake

Wednesday 6 November 2013 - 1am PSTCurrent ratings for:
More sleep for children may decrease calorie intake

It seems everyone is looking for a culprit when it comes to childhood obesity: fast food, sugary drinks, super-sized everything. But it turns out part of the blame may lie with the simple matter of turning out the lights and rolling into bed.

That's according to the results of a study conducted by Chantelle Hart, associate professor of public health at Temple's Center for Obesity Research and Education (CORE), published in Pediatrics. The study, entitled "Changes in Children's Sleep Duration on Food Intake, Weight, and Leptin," is the first known study to examine the impact of sleep on children's eating behaviors by manipulating the amount of sleep that study participants were able to get.

The study, which was conducted while Dr. Hart was at the Miriam Hospital and Alpert Medical School of Brown University, involved 37 children, ages 8 to 11; 27 percent of whom were overweight or obese.

For the first week of the study, children were asked to sleep their typical amount. Next, during the second week, the group was randomized to either reduce or lengthen their sleep time; participants completed the opposite sleep schedule during the third and final week of the study.

The results were conclusive: During the week that the children increased their sleep, they reported consuming an average of 134 fewer calories per day, weighed a half pound less, and had lower fasting levels of leptin, a hunger-regulating hormone that is also highly correlated with the amount of adipose tissue, when compared to the week of decreased sleep.

"Findings from this study suggest that enhancing school-age children's sleep at night could have important implications for prevention and treatment of obesity," said Hart. "The potential role of sleep should be further explored."

So what's next? Hart is working on a study funded by the National Heart Lung and Blood Institute of the NIH using a brief behavioral intervention to get kids to increase their sleep to determine if there are significant changes in eating, activity behaviors and weight status.

While it is still early in the testing, Hart hints that the intervention looks promising:

"Given all of its documented benefits, in many ways, you can't lose in promoting a good night's sleep."

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Every death in the Game of Thrones series, tabbed

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Caffeine consumed 6 hours before bedtime reduced sleep by more than 1 hour

Monday 18 November 2013 - 12am PSTCurrent ratings for:
Caffeine consumed 6 hours before bedtime reduced sleep by more than 1 hour

A new study shows that caffeine consumption even six hours before bedtime can have significant, disruptive effects on sleep.

"Sleep specialists have always suspected that caffeine can disrupt sleep long after it is consumed," said American Academy of Sleep Medicine President M. Safwan Badr, MD. "This study provides objective evidence supporting the general recommendation that avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon and at night is beneficial for sleep."

Results show that 400 mg of caffeine (about 2-3 cups of coffee) taken at bedtime, three and even six hours prior to bedtime significantly disrupts sleep. Even when caffeine was consumed six hours before going to bed, objectively measured total sleep time was dramatically reduced (more than one hour). However, subjective reports suggest that participants were unaware of this sleep disturbance.

The study is in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, which is published by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.

"Drinking a big cup of coffee on the way home from work can lead to negative effects on sleep just as if someone were to consume caffeine closer to bedtime," said lead author Christopher Drake, PhD, investigator at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders and Research Center and associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich. "People tend to be less likely to detect the disruptive effects of caffeine on sleep when taken in the afternoon," noted Drake, who also is on the board of directors of the Sleep Research Society.

Drake and his research team studied 12 healthy normal sleepers, as determined by a physical examination and clinical interview. Participants were instructed to maintain their normal sleep schedules. They were given three pills a day for four days, taking one pill at six, three and zero hours prior to scheduled bedtime. One of the pills contained 400 mg of caffeine, and the other two were a placebo. On one of the four days, all three pills were a placebo. Sleep disturbance was measured subjectively with a standard sleep diary and objectively using an in-home sleep monitor.

According to the authors, this is the first study to investigate the effects of a given dose of caffeine taken at different times before sleep. The results suggest that caffeine generally should be avoided after 5 p.m. in order to allow healthy sleep.

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Insomnia linked to higher risk of death

Friday 22 November 2013 - 12am PSTFeatured ArticleAcademic Journal Current ratings for:
Insomnia linked to higher risk of death

A new study of men by researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, MA, has found that some insomnia symptoms are linked to a higher risk of death.

In a recent online issue of Circulation, they describe how they found that among men experiencing specific sleep problems - such as non-restorative sleep and difficulty falling asleep - there is a modest increased risk of death from heart-related problems.

Insomnia is a common sleep disorder that affects millions of Americans. People with insomnia have trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or both, with the result that they do not get enough sleep and may not feel refreshed when they wake up.

Previous studies have concluded that sleep is important for heart health, and many have linked poor or insufficient sleep with increased risk factors for cardiovascular-related diseases.

Earlier this year, in reporting a large study on how sleep is linked to heart health through a healthy lifestyle, researchers from the Netherlands suggested their analysis showed the effect of sufficient sleep on heart-related deaths could be as strong as not smoking.

However, the link between sleep and lifespan is not so clear, as the lead author of the new study, Dr. Yanping Li, a research fellow in the Channing Division of Network Medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital (BWH), explains:

"Insomnia is a common health issue, particularly in older adults, but the link between this common sleep disorder and its impact on the risk of death has been unclear."

For their study, Dr. Yi and colleagues examined data on self-reported insomnia symptoms collected in 2004 from nearly 23,500 men taking part in the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study who were followed for 6 years.

Using information from the government and the men's families, they established that 2,025 of the participants died over the follow-up.

When they analyzed the links between the insomnia symptoms and deaths, and adjusted for lifestyle, age, and other chronic conditions, they found that:

Over the 6 years of follow-up, men who reported having difficulty falling asleep and non-restorative sleep had a 55% and 32% increased risk of death due to heart-related causes, respectively, compared with men who did not report experiencing these sleep problems.

Senior author Dr. Xiang Gao, also of BWH's Channing Division of Network Medicine and assistant professor in Medicine at Harvard Medical School, says:

"Now we know that not only can poor sleep impact disease risk, but it may also impact our longevity.

While further research is necessary to confirm these findings, there is overwhelming evidence that practicing good sleep hygiene and prioritizing sufficient and restful sleep is an often overlooked but important modifiable risk factor in overall health."

Grants from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, the National Cancer Institute, and NIH Transdisciplinary Research in Energetics and Cancer Center (TREC) helped fund the study.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine earlier this month, researchers suggested that caffeine can disrupt sleep hours later - even when consumed 6 hours before bedtime, it can reduce sleep time by more than 1 hour.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without the permission of Medical News Today.

The Association between Insomnia Symptoms and Mortality: A Prospective Study of US Men; Yanping Li, Xuehong Zhang, John W. Winkelman, Susan Redline, Frank B. Hu, Meir Stampfer, Jing Ma, and Xiang Gao; Circulatio, published online 13 November 2013; DOI: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.004500; Abstract.

Additional source: Brigham and Women's Hospital press release 20 November 2013.

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This is something my Dad showed me when I was 8. Yesterday was my first Thanksgiving without him. Did this to keep a smile on my face.

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Caffeine can disrupt sleep hours later

Friday 15 November 2013 - 3am PSTFeatured ArticleAcademic Journal Current ratings for:
Caffeine can disrupt sleep hours later

Drinking coffee might be a nice way to round off the evening meal or perk you up in the late afternoon, but it may well disrupt your sleep hours later when you retire for the night, according to a new study reported this week.

Writing in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, the researchers say this is the first study to look at the effects of a given dose of caffeine taken at different times before a night's sleep.

Lead author Christopher Drake, associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences at Wayne State University in Detroit, MI, says:

"Drinking a big cup of coffee on the way home from work can lead to negative effects on sleep just as if someone were to consume caffeine closer to bedtime."

Prof. Drake, who is also an investigator at the Henry Ford Sleep Disorders and Research Center, and colleagues say you should probably avoid caffeine after 5 pm if you want a good night's sleep.

For their study, they recruited 12 healthy normal sleepers and asked them to keep to their normal sleep schedules.

They gave each participant three pills to take each day for 4 days. One pill was to be taken 6 hours before bedtime, the second at 3 hours before, and the third at bedtime.

One of the three pills contained 400 mg of caffeine (equivalent to two or three cups of coffee) and the other two looked identical to the caffeine pill but were only harmless placebos. On one of the days, all three pills were placebos.

Sleep disturbance was measured in two ways: objectively by means of a sleep monitor used at home, and subjectively from diaries kept by the participants.

The results showed that consuming caffeine 3 and even 6 hours before bedtime significantly disrupts sleep - even when consumed 6 hours before bedtime, it reduced objectively measured total sleep time by more than 1 hour.

However, the subjective sleep measures showed that individuals were not aware of any disturbance.

Prof. Drake says:

"People tend to be less likely to detect the disruptive effects of caffeine on sleep when taken in the afternoon."

Dr. M. Safwan Badr, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, comments that:

"Sleep specialists have always suspected that caffeine can disrupt sleep long after it is consumed. This study provides objective evidence supporting the general recommendation that avoiding caffeine in the late afternoon and at night is beneficial for sleep."

Earlier this year, a study reported in the journal Nature also suggested that light from electronic devices frequently disrupts sleep.

Written by Catharine Paddock PhD

Copyright: Medical News Today
Not to be reproduced without the permission of Medical News Today.

Caffeine Effects on Sleep Taken 0, 3, or 6 Hours before Going to Bed; Christopher Drake, Timothy Roehrs, John Shambroom, and Thomas Roth; Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, Volume 09 Number 11, 15 November 2013; DOI: 10.5664/jcsm.3170; Abstract.

Additional source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine news release via EurekAlert 14 November 2013.

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Caffeine can disrupt sleep hours later

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Snoring during pregnancy increases risk for c-sections, delivering smaller babies

Monday 4 November 2013 - 1am PST Current ratings for:
Snoring during pregnancy increases risk for c-sections, delivering smaller babies

Snoring during pregnancy may be bad for the new baby's health, according to research from the University of Michigan Health System.

Moms who snored three or more nights a week had a higher risk of poor delivery outcomes - including Cesarean births and delivering smaller babies - according to the research that appears in scientific journal Sleep. The study is believed to be the largest of its kind to link maternal snoring to baby health by following moms from pregnancy through delivery.

Chronic snorers (moms who snored before and during pregnancy) are two thirds more likely to have a baby that's born below the tenth percentile for babies of the same gestational age (smaller than 90 percent of other babies the same gestation) compared to non-snorers. They are also more than twice as likely to need an elective C-section, researchers found.

"There has been great interest in the implications of snoring during pregnancy and how it affects maternal health but there is little data on how it may impact the health of the baby," says lead author Louise O'Brien, Ph.D., M.S., associate professor at U-M's Sleep Disorders Center in the Department of Neurology and adjunct associate professor in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology at the U-M Medical School.

"We've found that chronic snoring is associated with both smaller babies and C-sections, even after we accounted for other risk factors. This suggests that we have a window of opportunity to screen pregnant women for breathing problems during sleep that may put them at risk of poor delivery outcomes."

Timing of snoring patterns also made a difference in outcomes, researchers found. Chronic snorers who snored before and during pregnancy had the highest risks, being more likely to have smaller babies and elective C-sections. Meanwhile, those who started snoring only during pregnancy had higher risk of both elective and emergency C-sections than women who did not snore.

The study included 1,673 pregnant women who were recruited from prenatal clinics at U-M between 2007 and 2010, with 35 percent of the women reporting habitual snoring.

Snoring is a key sign of obstructive sleep apnea, a sleep-related breathing problem that can reduce blood oxygen levels during the night and has already been associated with serious, expensive health conditions. The new research comes a year after another study led by O'Brien showed that women who begin snoring during pregnancy are at high risk for high blood pressure and preeclampsia.

Pregnant women can be treated for obstructive sleep apnea using CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure). The method involves a machine worn during sleep that uses air pressure to keep the airways open.

"Millions of healthcare dollars are spent on operative deliveries, taking care of babies who are admitted to the NICU and treating secondary health problems that smaller babies are at risk for when grown," says O'Brien, who is also an associate research scientist in the Department of Oral & Maxillofacial Surgery.

"If we can identify risks during pregnancy that can be treated, such as obstructive sleep apnea, we can reduce the incidence of small babies, C-sections and possibly NICU admission that not only improve long term health benefits for newborns but also help keep costs down."

Additional Authors: Alexandra S. Bullough, MB. ChB., FRCA.; Jocelynn T. Owusu, M.P.H.; Kimberley A. Tremblay, M.S.; Cynthia A. Brincat, M.D., Ph.D.; Mark C. Chames, M.D.;John D. Kalbfleisch, Ph.D.; Ronald D. Chervin, M.D., M.S., all of U-M.

Disclosures: None

Funding: NIH HL089918, the Gilmore Fund for Sleep Research, and MICHR grant UL1RR024986

Reference: Sleep, "Snoring during pregnancy and delivery outcomes: A Cohort Study," Vol.36, No.11, 2013.

University of Michigan Health System

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Teacher who wants her students to learn the dangers of posting your photo online

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