Researches Tie Sleep Apnea And Osteoporosis

Two recent studies have linked obstructive sleep apnea and osteoporosis, adding yet another serious disease to the already lengthy list of health problems associated with the nighttime sleep disorder.

In the first sleep apnea study (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24735427), conducted by the Chi Mei Medical Center in Tainan, Taiwan, and published in the Endocrine Society’s Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM) in 2014, researchers found that those with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had a 2.7 percent higher chance of suffering from osteoporosis and early bone loss than those who did not present symptoms of sleep apnea.

The Taiwan study random samples from 1 million people who are tracked through the country’s National Health Insurance database, focusing on 1,377 patients with newly-diagnosed OSA between 200 and 2008 as well as 20,655 patients who had not been diagnosed with OSA. The study corrected for age, gender, diabetes, hypertension, coronary artery disease, obesity, stroke, hyperlipidemia, chronic kidney disease, gout, monthly income, and geographical location.

In the second sleep apnea study (http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150203104104.htm), researchers at Oregon Health and Science University in Portland examined how sleep apnea affected bone metabolism. The study, which was published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research this year, concluded that chronic sleep disruptions caused by sleep apnea could damage the nightly process of bone turnover. These consistent disruptions over time could lead to bone loss and the development of osteoporosis.

“If sleep disorders like obstructive sleep apnea affect bone metabolism, they may have diagnostic and therapeutic implications for many patients, including those affected by sleep apnea in their early, bone modeling years,” said lead author Dr. Christine Swanson.

Osteoporosis is only the latest ailment to be associated with sleep apnea. OSA has also been linked with heart disease, high cholesterol, diabetes, depression, obesity, high blood pressure, asthma, stroke, and cancer.