LAS VEGAS – New research from Taiwanese researchers suggests that sleep apnea sufferers “appear to have” a higher risk of pneumonia. The study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, and summarized in Medical News Today (MNT), is reportedly the largest study to examine the pneumonia/apnea link.
According to the MNT article by Catharine Paddock, PhD, Dr. Vincent Yi-Fong Su, of Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Taiwan, and colleagues, selected over 34,000 patients from Taiwan’s National Health Insurance Research Database (nearly 7,000 patients with sleep apnea matched to over 27,000 people without sleep apnea) for the study. They followed the participants for 11 years, from the beginning of 2000 to the end of 2010, and compared occurrence of pneumonia in the two groups.
“They found the group with sleep apnea had a 1.20-fold increase in incident pneumonia, compared with the group without sleep apnea (9.36% developed it in the apnea group versus 7.77% in the controls),” writes Paddock. “They also noticed that the people who developed pneumonia tended to be older and had more illnesses, such as diabetes, heart disease and dementia.”
While they did not explore the mechanisms linking sleep apnea with pneumonia, the researchers suggest it could be that people with sleep apnea are more likely to aspirate liquid from the throat into the lungs.
“Another reason could be a weaker immune system, which can result from frequently disturbed sleep,” reports Paddock.
The massive interest in sleep (from academics, providers, and the consumer press) is reflected in the exhibitor list at Medtrade Spring, which includes the following sleep/sleep accessory companies:
Airway Management –Booth #1132
Apex Medical Corp – Booth #850
Battery Power Solutions – Booth #743
Beijing Rongrui-Century Science & Tech – Booth #850
Blue Chip Medical Products Inc – Booth #623
BMC – Booth #850
Complete Medical Supplies – Booth #722
CONTEC Medical Systems Co – Booth #644
Contour Products Inc – Booth #1043
Core Products Intl – Booth #754
DeVilbiss Healthcare – Booth #927
Drive Medical – Booth #717
Fisher And Paykel Healthcare – Booth #819
GE Healthcare – Booth #326
Graham-Field – Booth #619
Health Call LLC – Booth #1029
Hudson Medical – Booth #929
Inventory Solutions Inc – Booth #357
Nonin Medical Inc – Booth #1009
Nova Medical Products – Booth #733
Philips Respironics Inc – Booth #706
RemZzzs – Booth #943
ResMed – Booth #211
Revsuppliance – Booth #1060
Roscoe Medical – Booth #411
Smirthwaite – Booth #723
Sunset Healthcare Solutions – Booth #760
Virtuox – Booth #860
Vitility – Booth #361
Medtrade Spring begins today at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. For those still pondering attendance to the Expo (March 11 and March 12), walk-up registration is featuring a “special discount” on Expo Floor passes. Just mention you learned about the “special discount” in Medtrade Monday, and you will have access to the Expo Floor which is open from 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday.