12 Year old study claims "Mild OSA should not be treated." Thoughts?

[Goofproof]

Which is the better outcome, a person with Mild Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children, or a person with Severe Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children? Is treating Sleep Apnea cost effective?

If not, money saved, treating the Sleep Apnea, After the wreck one less car with a impaired driver, 1 bus, one driver, 36 children, 1 less schoolroom. Does that balance the scales. Can we save everyone without a time machine! Jim

[jnk...]

asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus

Problem is that many people get bad sleep for all kinds of reasons, some on purpose even. They stay up and watch the game. The kid cries in the middle of the night. They worry about the mortgage. They stay out drinking, dancing, or seeing the new Lion King movie until the wee hours.

Few people on the road got 8 hrs of restorative sleep the night before. And if they had, they'd be busy behind the wheel texting all their friends to tell them about it--probably while juggling a hot coffee, a breakfast sandwich, and their oversized purse/bag, while putting on lipstick in the rearview mirror. Or shaving. Or both.

Bus? What bus? I didn't see a bus.

Docs believe that pulling all-nighters during med school and then doing residency shifts of 24-hours straight is normal, so they are in no position at all to counsel anyone on the importance of good sleep for safety reasons in life-or-death matters. Most of them drive home in their sleep and wake up eventually in their driveway with the engine still running.

In 2017, after the publication of an earlier study showing no association between shift length and patient safety, the governing body of graduate medical education backtracked on shift limits. Maximum shift length for first-year residents was increased from 16 to 24 hours, and more shift-to-shift variation was permitted for senior residents, as long as the 80-hour weekly cap was maintained when averaged over four weeks. --https://www.npr.org/sections/health-sho ... work-hours

[D.H.]

Supposedly, anything under five (untreated) is "negative" for sleep apnea. However, if I get anywhere near two (treated), I feel lousy the next day!

[Arlene1963]

Which is the better outcome, a person with Mild Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children, or a person with Severe Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children? Is treating Sleep Apnea cost effective?

If not, money saved, treating the Sleep Apnea, After the wreck one less car with a impaired driver, 1 bus, one driver, 36 children, 1 less schoolroom. Does that balance the scales. Can we save everyone without a time machine! Jim

I have moderate OSA and have never experienced the classic OSA fatigue or sleepiness. In fact the exact opposite!
What next? If you have insomnia you can't drive?
If you have T2 diabetes that is poorly controlled you will have your driver's licence yanked? (eyesight issues and all that)
Are we all going to need a doctor's certificate to verify that we have optimal sleep, every night?
How exactly is this state of utopia achieved?
Be careful what you wish for.

[Goofproof]

Which is the better outcome, a person with Mild Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children, or a person with Severe Sleep Apnea falls asleep at the wheel and hits a School Bus, killing the driver and 36 children? Is treating Sleep Apnea cost effective?

If not, money saved, treating the Sleep Apnea, After the wreck one less car with a impaired driver, 1 bus, one driver, 36 children, 1 less schoolroom. Does that balance the scales. Can we save everyone without a time machine! Jim

I have moderate OSA and have never experienced the classic OSA fatigue or sleepiness. In fact the exact opposite!
What next? If you have insomnia you can't drive?
If you have T2 diabetes that is poorly controlled you will have your driver's licence yanked?
Are we all going to need doctor's certificate to verify that we have optimal sleep, every night? How exactly is this state of utopia achieved?
Be careful what you wish for.

I'm not wishing for it I'm a victim. AHI at Sleep Lab 450 for 3 hours, Type 2 Diabetes poorly controlled, can't drive vision shot. The only good thing is my XPAP works, AHI under 2!!! Got a APPT Monday to pick up a wheelchair, but live in a house that's not wheelchair friendly. Broken but not dead! Jim

[Arlene1963]

Jim, you are a constant source of inspiration.
Seriously, I love your posts! Even when I disagree with them.

[Okie bipap]

Got a APPT Monday to pick up a wheelchair, but live in a house that's not wheelchair friendly. Broken but not dead!

Maybe you need to get a Hoveround. They're supposed to fit through narrow areas.

[Goofproof]

Got a APPT Monday to pick up a wheelchair, but live in a house that's not wheelchair friendly. Broken but not dead!

Maybe you need to get a Hoveround. They're supposed to fit through narrow areas.

I was thinking more like that Hover Board, the guy tried to cross the English Channel on. I'd have to learn how to stick the landing better than he did. Jim

[Okie bipap]

If that had been me, I would have fallen off and drowned. At least, that would cure my sleep apnea.

[Lucyhere]

My personal position is that assessment of milder SDB is all about giving a patient the opportunity to try PAP whenever said patient is qualified to do so in the eyes of payers. Those with an AHI above 15 or so should be strongly encouraged to give PAP the full shot, since the evidence is high for long-term benefits. But below that AHI, it is more about improving sleep in general and overall safety and quality of life in a way that may make it less-than-useful to pressure a patient into using PAP by guilting or shaming the patient. It becomes a judgment call. Patients should have choices, especially when it comes to the milder presentations of the more difficult to define conditions. They should be given opportunities to improve quality of life, not automatically forced into a treatment just because of barely crossing a line into the area of "may possibly benefit from treatment." This is true of MOST medically-defined conditions, not just OSA.

+1

[chunkyfrog]

I have been known to clip curbs, run lights, and find myself
unexplainably a quarter mile or so from when I was last aware of driving.
Luckily, I got my first cpap before something worse had happened.
There are many films I have discovered anew,
having missed a good portion of them before.

[zoocrewphoto]

I have been known to clip curbs, run lights, and find myself
unexplainably a quarter mile or so from when I was last aware of driving.
Luckily, I got my first cpap before something worse had happened.
There are many films I have discovered anew,
having missed a good portion of them before.

Ihave only had one scare. I was driving home from a long day trip. I knew I was tired, and I had pulled off the freeway to find aplace to stop and take a nap. I was looking for a safe parking lot and the area was industrial, not that safe looking. I rubbed a curb a little, so I was starting to drift sideways. That spooked me, and I found a fast food parkinglot a couple blocks later. That was a few years back. When I do long drives, I try to take extra breaks. And I will stop and take a nap, even if I am only 15 minutes from home.

[bjhunt01]

It isn't a research double-blind, etc. study, it's a review of other studies. It IS 12 years old so I'd suggest going to Pub Med and looking for more recent publications of actual research. Good luck.

PS: Guess a bottom line also is how is mild OSA affecting a patient, their quality of life, fatigue, damage to organs, brain function, etc. as to whether to treat.

[chunkyfrog]

What it all boils down to is the lengths to which a person,
addled by lack of sleep, will go to in order to avoid wearing a
(gasp) MEDICAL DEVICE at night.
So much for intelligent choices . . .

[tlohse]

Cpap is a life saver everyone that needs it should get it.?enough said.