Unique pillow may provide
relief from mild sleep apnea
BY KRISTA CONGER
A new, high-tech pillow
may bring relief to people suffering from mild
obstructive sleep apnea, researchers at Stanford suggest.
The pillow holds the sleeper's head in a concave cradle
and tilts it back, extending the neck and increasing the
diameter of the upper airway to ease breathing. In a
recent study, some patients experienced a significant
decrease in the number of sleep disruptions per hour when
using the pillow.
"The pillow offers a
reasonable, non-invasive treatment option for patients
with mild forms of obstructive sleep apnea," said
Clete Kushida, MD, PhD, staff physician and clinical
instructor in psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the
Stanford University Sleep Disorders Clinic. Kushida will
present the study's findings at the Associated
Professional Sleep Society Meeting June 19 in Orlando,
Florida.
Related
Information:
Obstructive sleep apnea
occurs when the tissues of the upper airway and tongue
relax during sleep and block the passages of the upper
airway. The sleeper is unable to breathe and partially
awakens several times each night gasping for air. The
number of stop and start breathing episodes per hour
called the respiratory disturbance index determines
the severity of the disorder. Sufferers of severe
obstructive sleep apnea have a respiratory disturbance
index (RDI) of 40 or higher, and even people suffering
from milder versions wake up between five and 20 times
per hour.
Not only does obstructive
sleep apnea lead to daytime tiredness for up to 20
million Americans, but it can also signal other severe
health problems. The disorder is associated with up to
38,000 cardiac deaths annually, and sufferers are more
likely to have high blood pressure and heart disease.
Until recently, treatment for the disorder has been
limited to bulky devices worn at night to maintain
positive airway pressure or surgery to reduce the volume
of the obstructive tissue.
But recent studies,
published in Sleep Research Online and soon to be
published in the journal Sleep, suggest that changing the
position of the head at night may provide relief for
those suffering from mild symptoms of obstructive sleep
apnea.
The researchers evaluated
the RDI for 12 subjects with mild to severe sleep apnea,
first while sleeping with their regular pillow and then
with the specially shaped foam pillow. The average RDI
for the three subjects with mild symptoms decreased from
14.7 to 10.5 after shifting to the new head support.
Patients with moderate to severe symptoms showed no
significant improvement in their RDI.
A second study examined
fifteen new subjects with mild sleep apnea and found a
significant decrease in average RDI from 15.3 to 11.6.
The airway caliber of eight of these patients was also
measured; each subject showed significant improvement.
The pillow's inventor,
Roger Sramek, used polyurethane "memory" foam
and an electric knife to design a sloped pillow with
indentations for his ears. Because he could breathe more
freely while using his prototype, he wondered if the
pillow could be useful for snorers and people with
obstructive sleep apnea. Now his start-up company,
LifeSleep Systems, Inc., of South San Francisco, has
perfected the manufacturing of the pillow and is
marketing it for about $200. SR
|
