One in four elderly people briefly stops breathing at least five times an hour during sleep, a condition that causes daytime drowsiness and in severe cases, heart failure and death, a researcher says.
Psychologist Sonia Ancoli-Israel of the Veterans Administration Hospital in La Jolla and the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine, recorded the sleep patterns of 427 elderly San Diego residents.Hers is the first large study to determine prevalence of the condition, called apnea, among randomly selected healthy senior citizens.
Apnea sufferers rarely remember waking, but the disturbed sleep leaves them drowsy the next day, she said. In severe cases, when the person wakes more than 20 times an hour, the lack of breath can cause heart failure and death.
Apnea apparently increases with age, as the windpipe becomes more fragile.
While apnea is believed to affect 1 percent to 5 percent of the population, the San Diego study found the condition in 24 percent of the elderly people tested. Counting a partial form of apnea in which breathing is shallow and the lack of oxygen also can disturb sleep, 62 percent of those tested were afflicted.
"I don't think anyone realized the percentage was that high," said Daniel Kripke, a UCSD and VA psychiatrist collaborating on the research. "This means the average San Diegan over 65 is waking up 10 times an hour to start breathing again but probably doesn't remember it."
Treatment for severe apnea is available with a machine that continuously blows air under pressure into the windpipe through a tube attached to the nose, keeping the airway open.