COVID-19 spread and CPAP

[kong]

Right when COVID-19 started spreading like crazy in the US, I heard speculation in the media that CPAP machines were spreading COVID-19 in nursing homes. I haven't heard anything recently about that. Does my use of CPAP increase the risk of my wife catching COVID-19 if I should catch COVID-19?

[palerider]

Living (presumably) in the same house pretty much ensures that she'll catch it if you get it.

[kong]

Living (presumably) in the same house pretty much ensures that she'll catch it if you get it.

That's probably true. I do have one friend who managed to catch it and didn't give it to his wife and children.

[Julie]

Cpap would only be the bad guy if your wife also used your machine... I really think you could have figured that out.

[WearyOne]

Right when COVID-19 started spreading like crazy in the US, I heard speculation in the media that CPAP machines were spreading COVID-19 in nursing homes. I haven't heard anything recently about that. Does my use of CPAP increase the risk of my wife catching COVID-19 if I should catch COVID-19?

If you get COVID, you shouldn't be anywhere near your wife (or anyone else for that matter), so you wouldn't be sleeping in the same room with her. Whether it's increases her changes of getting it from you more than just being near her and breathing normal air into the room where she is, probably not. But I don't have anything to back that up.

I just typed a transcript of an interview related to workers' comp claim for a nurse who contracted COVID-19. As soon as she knew the patient she attended to in a correctional facility might have it (test results weren't back yet), she and her husband kept separated at their house. The patient turned up postive and so did she. They continued to keep separated. Her husband never got it. So it is possible to not give it to your spouse if you take good precautions.

As a side note, I have come across research lately that indicates people with OSA do have a higher chance of COVID being severe for them even if they don't have any other health issues. Not related to your question, I know, but might be something you'd be interested in if you're not already aware of it.

[Goofproof]

As a side note, I have come across research lately that indicates people with OSA do have a higher chance of COVID being severe for them even if they don't have any other health issues. Not related to your question, I know, but might be something you'd be interested in if you're not already aware of it.

Sleep Apnea Damage, (Death by 1,000 Cuts)! Jim

[colomom]

Cpap would only be the bad guy if your wife also used your machine... I really think you could have figured that out.

COVID can be spread by aerosolized droplets, which a cpap machine expels.

You do not need to share a mask or a machine with your mate to potentially spread Covid to them.

If you have been around anyone who potentially has Covid, or have even slight symptoms if it is feasible you and your spouse should sleep in different rooms.

[boxofrain]

As a side note, I have come across research lately that indicates people with OSA do have a higher chance of COVID being severe for them even if they don't have any other health issues. Not related to your question, I know, but might be something you'd be interested in if you're not already aware of it.

If this is true, what about those of us who are being successfully treated for OSA? If I am using a CPAP every night and have almost no events, does the virus still know that I have OSA? Serious question.

[WearyOne]

As a side note, I have come across research lately that indicates people with OSA do have a higher chance of COVID being severe for them even if they don't have any other health issues. Not related to your question, I know, but might be something you'd be interested in if you're not already aware of it.

If this is true, what about those of us who are being successfully treated for OSA? If I am using a CPAP every night and have almost no events, does the virus still know that I have OSA? Serious question.

This is one of the sources, and it mentions "OSA treated" patients, so I would assume that means those of us on successful xPAP treatment.

"There are plausible mechanisms by which OSA may independently increase one's risk of morbidity and mortality associated with COVID-19 and data from the newly published CORONADO study suggests that OSA treated patients may be at increased risk of death from COVID-19." From A systematic review of COVID-19 and obstructive sleep apnoea https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... via%3Dihub

[palerider]

Bearing in mind that "OSA treated" from a medical standards standpoint is often inadequately treated by our standards.

[Pugsy]

Some thoughts on the article above that WearyOne linked to.

They researched

PubMed was systematically searched up to 020620. Studies were included if they had examined the relationship between COVID-19 and OSA.

which I assume is Feb 6 and not June 2....so limited studies to study either way and especially if it is Feb. There likely wasn't a lot of data available early. Heck, there's so much we still don't know about the interaction and co morbidities it makes for an extremely difficult risk evaluation.

It also mentions the cold hard fact that a lot of OSA patients also have the known co morbidity factors

co-morbidities associated for OSA which include obesity, hypertension and diabetes mellitus are associated with poor COVID-19 outcomes

So poor outcomes might have happened anyway even without OSA being a factor.

We are going to be studying this for years to come and more conclusive data will be coming.
Would someone with just OSA being the only health condition a person might have be a significant factor in having a poor outcome...very possible and common sense would tell us that if people can die that are young and healthy with zero co morbidity factors then just having OSA alone is likely to be a factor.

The virus just wants a place to live and thrive and spread. It doesn't care if lives in an OSA patient or a totally healthy human. It simply wants to live and multiply. That's its sole purpose in life.

Does having OSA put a person at risk for catching Covid if exposed to it. I don't think they know for sure. Just because a person catches it doesn't mean their body can't fight it off and they will have a poor outcome. Most people do survive it. It all depends on how well a person's body is able to fight it off. The study above seemed to target OSA and Covid and poor outcomes and not so much the chance of contracting Covid simply if exposed. As in why in a household does one person catch it and another not catch it when the chances are high that both have been exposed if nothing else prior to symptoms showing up.

All this is going to be put under the microscope for years to come. They are learning new things every day and also learning that what they thought might be true 3 months ago isn't necessarily true now. Science learns and changes as it learns.

As to original question...does cpap use make for potentially more spreading of the virus. Yes..through the vented air which contains our own exhaled breath which can contain the virus. It gets aerosolized.
We have also most likely already been exposed though prior to knowing a for sure positive result. Since viral load does seem to affect the chances of how severe the illness might be then obviously we want to reduce the viral load exposure if at all possible.
Hence the recommendation for segregation if someone does come down with Covid even if the chances of us already likely being exposed are high. We don't know how much exposure ends up tipping the scales so that the virus takes hold in us or not.

[chunkyfrog]

Science, as such, is constantly evolving. Every day brings new information.
Media talking heads only pass on that information they deem "news-worthy".
What we get through general sources has been cherry-picked by apes with keyboards.

[Julie]

This ape forgot about the vents - thanks for the reminder!