Sleep apnea increases risk of epilepsy later in life

[New Sancai Compilation and First Release] Sleep apnea is adding to the list of devastating consequences: New research shows it is linked to epilepsy in later life. Late-life epilepsy is defined as seizures that tend to begin after age 60.

The condition may be related to underlying heart or brain disease, noted study co-author Dr. Rebecca Gottesman, director of the stroke branch at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS).

"Older adults have the highest incidence of new-onset epilepsy cases compared with other age groups, and up to half of these cases have no clear cause," Gottesman noted in the NINDS press release.

She added that the link between sleep apnea and poor brain health has long been observed, but the link between breathing cessation and epilepsy remains "less clear."

To try to learn more, Gottesman and colleagues pored over data from more than 1,300 people who participated in a study of sleep-disordered breathing and heart disease.

The link between epilepsy and sleep apnea breathing disorder is very strong: "People whose blood oxygen saturation falls below 80% during sleep (a condition called nocturnal hypoxia) are more likely to suffer from late-onset epilepsy Three times as much as people without sleep apnea.

Studies have found that people who suffer from any form of sleep apnea later in life are also twice as likely to be diagnosed with late-onset epilepsy compared with people without a history of the disorder.

The researchers say the study suggests late-onset epilepsy may occur with other brain disorders, such as stroke and dementia, which are more common in people with sleep apnea.

Can controlling sleep apnea (such as using a CPAP machine) help prevent late-onset epilepsy?

The study was not designed to answer that question, but it's an interesting idea, said Dr. Christopher Carosella, the study's lead author.

"Discovering reversible causes of the development of any type of idiopathic epilepsy is an ideal goal for epilepsy researchers or clinicians," said Carlo Serra, assistant professor of neurology at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. "We hope this study may be a step toward This is a small step in this direction and an encouragement to evaluate and treat sleep disorders in patients with epilepsy."

(Compiled by: Wang Jimin)

(Editor: Jiang Qiming)

(Source of the article: Compiled and published by New Sancai)