TOKYO, March 19 (UPI) -- Japanese researchers found patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea and higher serum levels of inflammatory markers may have an elevated stroke risk.
Dr. Kenji Minoguchi of Showa University School of Medicine in Tokyo studied silent brain infarction -- brain tissue death from lack of blood supply -- in 50 male patients with obstructive sleep apnea.
Minoguchi examined the effects of three months of treatment in 24 male patients who had moderate to severe sleep apnea.
The findings, which appear in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, found the percentage of silent brain infarction in patients with moderate to severe sleep apnea at 25 percent was higher than that of control subjects at 6.7 percent.
Stroke in patients with obstructive sleep apnea is likely preceded by silent brain infarction, which is detectable with brain magnetic resonance imaging, according to Minoguchi.
The researchers found that use of nCPAP, a treatment for sleep apnea, greatly lowered proteins associated with cerebrovascular disease. As a result, the risk of stroke for those with obstructive sleep apnea may decrease, the study said.
