A new study conducted by Columbia University researchers has found that cholesterol-lowering drugs called statins can possibly reduce the chances of severe heart diseases in people with sleep apnea.
Sleep apnea is a common condition found in older adults. At its wake, people face difficulties in falling asleep which in turn leads to high blood pressure and eventually a range of cardiac diseases such as heart arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats), heart attacks and strokes.
The study, published in the journal Annals of the American Thoracic Society, suggests the medication can be beneficial even for those who use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices to facilitate a normal sleeping order, as per Medical Express.
CPAP provides restful sleep to those with obstructive sleep apnea by reducing daytime fatigue, but recent clinical trials proved it doesn’t have the potential to improve heart health as physicians wrongly hypothesized.
Therefore, doctors felt the immediate need to look for a better alternative as the condition triples the chances of heart disease, stroke, or other cardiovascular effects. The study, led by Sanja Jelic, associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, found statins to be one such method.
The study involved 87 people with recently-detected sleep apnea, who use CPAP. The patients were randomly given either statins or a placebo. The researchers noted that statins and not CPAP protected the blood vessels from the dangerous inflammatory changes that occur in people with sleep apnea.
As part of the study, researchers noted that lower cholesterol levels can stabilize the levels of CD59 protein–a component that keeps inflammation in check in blood vessels by protecting cells against complement (a group of proteins that promote inflammation) activity. Doctors noted that the study participants had more stabilized levels of CD59 in their blood after four weeks of cholesterol-lowering statin…
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