Categorized | Sleep Apnea

Cardiologists Have Alot to Learn about Sleep Apnea

Why is it that when you walk into most cardiologist’s doctor offices, they rarely will admit that their patients have sleep apnea?

This is a question that most people should be wondering about.  It’s just like walking into a endocrinologist’s office and he/she tells you they never see obese patients.

When you look at all of the clinical data, it all suggests that patients who have cardiovascular disease also have a very likelihood of having sleep apnea.  Or at a bare minimum, this is a very high risk group for having OSA.  When you think about the physics here, it just makes sense.

When you have sleep apnea, you are snoring usually much of the night, your airway is closing, and your body is not getting much oxygen.  And when the airway is clear, your heart starts pumping like crazy to make up for lost time, and lost oxygen in your system.  This nasty combination which can happen over and over again all night long leads to heart problems in many.  Heart attacks, and also strokes.

So why?  Why cardiologists would you think that your patients for some reason don’t have sleep apnea.  Or why would you think that sleep apnea is something that you should not worry about?  Is it because you don’t care about your patient’s health?  I don’t think that is the answer.  Or is it because you went to medical school so long ago that they didn’t have any of the current studies available for you to read?  Why?  What’s the reason.  Especially when recent studies show how roughly 50% of congestive heart failure patients have obstructive sleep apnea!

You don’t need to be a rocket scientist mr. cardiologist.  You just need to smell some coffee every once in a while.  Start screening your patients for sleep apnea.  If you want to learn how to do that, just go and read the information on how to screen for OSA.

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