Good News: CPAP Therapy Improves Blood Flow to the Heart

Wouldn’t you know it? Another risk related to sleep apnea has been discovered. Thank goodness this recent study offers good news on the heels of the bad news.

A recent new study is the first to show blood vessel abnormalities in otherwise healthy people with sleep apnea. Sleep apnea has been linked to high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease. According to researcher Gregory Y.H. Lip, MD, professor of cardiovascular medicine at the University of Birmingham in the U.K., “Even apparently healthy patients with sleep apnea show abnormalities of small and large blood vessels, as well as impaired blood supply to the heart muscle.”

The good news is that researchers also found that CPAP therapy actually improves blood vessel function. The study involved 108 people. They were divided into three groups: those with OSA without hypertension, those with hypertension but not OSA, and those with neither hypertension nor OSA.

Researchers found that the hypertension and sleep apnea groups both had blood vessel abnormalities that impaired blood supply to the heart at the start of the study. After 26 weeks of CPAP therapy, the sleep apnea group had improved flood vessel function and blood supply to the heart.

Pretty interesting.

To read the article on WebMD, click here.

Sleep Type Predicts Day and Night Batting Averages of Major League Baseball Players

It’s summer and baseball is one our favorite pastimes. Would you believe the sleep type of a major league baseball player actually predicts his day and night batting average? Sure enough, a study of 16 players from seven MLB teams (Houston Astros, Los Angeles Angels, Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, San Francisco Giants, and Toronto Blue Jays) indicate that “morning type” players—those who prefer to go to bed early and wake up early—had a higher batting average as compared to “evening type” players—those who prefer to stay up late and wake up late—in games that started before 2 pm. But, evening types had a higher batting average than morning types in games that started between 2 pm and 7:59 pm.

According to Dr. W. Christopher Winter, the principal investigator for the study and the medical Director of the Martha Jefferson Hospital Sleep Medicine Center in Charlottesville, Virginia, “Our data, though not statistically significant due to low subject numbers, clearly shows a trend toward morning type batters hitting progressively worse as the day becomes later, and the evening type batters showing the opposite trend.”

So, a player’s sleep preference could actually impact his batting average. Wow.

The results from this study could potentially create a new way to evaluate athletic talent. Could this spill over into other professional sports? Say basketball and football. What about tennis and golf?

Pretty interesting. To read the article recently published in Sleep Review magazine, click here.

One Company Uses Technology to Help Patients Comply

CPAP compliance can be hard to maintain. Often defined as “using therapy for an average of 4 hours a night for at least 70% of the nights,” CPAP compliance varies among patients, with between 29% and 83% patients not meeting this criteria. According to a Sleep Review article, practices to successfully using a CPAP include early and ongoing education, compliance monitoring and efficacy, long-term support and trouble-shooting.

CPAPs generally come with built-in smart cards and compliance data can be sent via email or uploaded to a Website post-therapy. According to a recent HME News article, a company called National Sleep Therapy is doing something right to improve compliance among their patients. It has developed software that tracks patient data in real time. That means the CPAP provider can easily step in if there is a problem such as a mask leak or a high apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) number. It also lets the provider see if the patient begins to slip in compliance. Data already collected by National Sleep Therapy using this software showed nearly 90% of its patients were successfully complying with their CPAP therapy.

Not only are they tracking real-time compliance data, National Sleep Therapy also uses an iPad to introduce and educate patients about sleep apnea and CPAP use, operation and maintenance.

Pretty cool.

What You Need to Know About Wearing Transcend on Your Head; Designed to ‘Float’ on the Head

One of the first things you’ll notice about Transcend is that it is a head-worn CPAP. We hope no one would want to put a traditional CPAP on their head; that would be nuts. But Transcend isn’t like traditional CPAPs. In fact, it was designed to be the smallest and lightest CPAP specifically because it is worn on the head.  

As more folks purchase Transcend, questions about how best to wear it have surfaced. To respond to your questions, Somnetics has created a new fitting guide video that shows you what to expect when wearing Transcend and explains how to properly fit the device so it can be worn comfortably.

“Transcend is designed so that you adjust the device and the mask interface separately,” says Somnetics President Ralph Germscheid. “While the mask should be snug to your face, the device on your head should be allowed to move slightly. Memory foam cushions the device to fit more naturally on your head. When you lie back onto a pillow the device is hardly noticeable if it is fitted properly.”

Transcend is designed to ‘float’ on the head. This allows the weight of the device—which is less than 1 lb—to transfer to the pillow when you lie down and roll while sleeping. While it is a natural inclination to tightly strap the device and the mask interface, over tightening the headgear straps will prevent Transcend from moving in the manner in which it was designed. This ability of the device to move slightly also minimizes seal leaks.

“Getting used to Transcend is similar to adjusting to a new CPAP mask,” says Germscheid. “It may take a night or two to get used to Transcend. And, a proper fit goes a long way in making it comfortable.”

Mark S., a sleep apnea patient who owns a Transcend CPAP adds, “It's hard to believe how comfortable something that sits on your head can really be ... There is nothing wrong with having this on top of your head. You don't wear it for beauty, that's for sure. But in the morning when you wake up, it's beautiful."

Other features the engineers at Somnetics added to make Transcend comfortable to wear include the short hose, the HME (heat moisture exchanger, which is used in place of a traditional water chamber), and air-bearing blower technology to eliminate vibration and heat buildup from the motor.

Want to check it out for yourself?

Watch the new fitting video now.

See Mark S. talk about what it feels like to wear Transcend.

Learn more about Transcend .

New Website Offers At-Home Sleep Apnea Diagnostic Treatment Test

If you know someone who might have sleep apnea—a disease, if left untreated, could lead to heart attack, stroke, high blood pressure, congestive heart failure and Type II diabetes—there may be a new, cost-effective and easy way for them to be evaluated.

Jim Boyle, a Registered Respiratory Therapist and Sleep Disorder Specialist, has launched a new website called NuLungs.com that offers at-home sleep apnea screening and diagnostic treatment modalities.

“With traditional sleep lab tests you go into a facility, they hook you up to a series of wires and then ask you to sleep ‘normally,’ in a strange place and knowing that people are watching you,” he said. “Who can sleep like that?”

The sleep test machine measures the patient’s respiratory effort, airflow, pulse rate and oxygenation through three non-invasive sensors. And, the test results will indicate the patient’s heart rate and blood pressure during sleep, how many times the patient stopped or slowed breathing, how long the patient slept—even how long the machine was worn.

You do need a physician prescription. Then the NuLungs.com test gets shipped directly to your home and comes with a DVD tutorial. The company also provides a hotline where patients can talk with a registered respiratory therapist or sleep disorder specialist.

According to Boyle, NuLungs.com offers an at-home alternative to traditional sleep tests that reduces the cost of diagnosis and treatment by nearly 80 percent. It is also Medicare approved.

Once the test is received by NuLungs, the raw data about the patient’s night sleep will be downloaded directly from the machine and a sleep disorder specialist or physician will analyze the results and produce a report with suggested recommendations for treatment or therapy in less than 24 hours, Boyle said.

You can even take a free screening exam on the NuLungs website to determine if the full diagnostic test might be what you need.

Pretty neat.

Read more.

The Connection Between CPAP Therapy and Diabetes

Treating diabetes can be complicated. There are different types of insulin from short-acting to rapid-acting or premixed. Oral medications to help control blood sugar levels are available too. Dietary changes and getting regular exercise are also important in treating diabetes.

Earlier this year, a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine found that CPAP treatment improves insulin resistance and, as a result, blood sugar levels in patients who have both sleep apnea and type 2 diabetes. According to Dr. James Herdegen, the study author and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago, “There are overlapping risk factor for both conditions.

There’s no clear connection between sleep apnea and diabetes, but Dr. Herdegen suspects that getting a better night’s sleep may help the body maintain a healthy blood sugar level by controlling hormones and preventing oxidative stress—which also occurs in people with sleep apnea when they body’s tissues don’t get the oxygen they need.

In the study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, researchers looked at 25 people with both sleep apnea and type 2 diabetes. Each person received CPAP treatment for at least four hours each night for three months. Blood sugar levels were monitored throughout the study. At the end of the study, those who adhered to the treatment showed a reduction in blood sugar levels.

Treating sleep apnea may also improve symptoms of diabetes including improving energy levels.

Read more at RightHealth.com.

Buying Transcend Options: Out-of-Pocket, HSA Expense or Waiting the Five-Year Insurance Replacement Period

For those who currently use a CPAP, you’re probably familiar with what your health insurance will and won’t cover when it comes to your device. Transcend, like other CPAPs, is covered by most health insurance plans. Of course, the replacement reimbursement schedule for CPAP devices is five (5) years. So, if you’ve purchased a CPAP through your health insurance within the past five years, chances are high that insurance wouldn’t cover a new CPAP. 

For many people, Transcend will be a second CPAP—one that will be used in addition to a primary device.  In that case, buying Transcend could be an out-of-pocket expense or an HSA (Health Savings Account) expense.  When comparing Transcend to other popular CPAPs with similar features, you’ll find that Transcend costs about half of what a conventional CPAP/humidifier combo costs. For example, the more popular CPAP devices today start at around $599. Add the cost of the humidifier/water chamber and the price goes up over $1,000. Transcend is designed and sold as a system. That means you get the CPAP, the HME*, the hose, the power cord, and the travel bag for $599.

*HMEs, or heat moisture exchangers, are used in hospitals every day. The Transcend HME is small, hygienic and disposable. It works by capturing moisture from your exhaled air and gives that moisture back to you when you inhale.

For others, waiting the five year reimbursement period to replace an existing CPAP may be better. It really depends on each individual situation.

FYI…Here’s a brief review of typical insurance guidelines related to CPAPs:

·         Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Devices are covered only for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

·         You must have an overnight sleep study performed in a sleep laboratory to establish a qualifying diagnosis.

·         Insurance also will pay for replacement masks,  tubing and other necessary supplies.

·         After three months of use, you will be required to verify if you are benefiting from using the device and how many hours a day you are using the machine.

Private health insurance plans and replacement reimbursement schedules differ by provider, so you’ll want to check with your provider for details.

Hope this is helpful.  Learn more about the Transcend travel CPAP.