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Date: Oct 02 2007

Painkillers linked to sleep apnea

Painkillers linked to sleep apnea

Salt Lake researcher says disorder may be factor in fatalities

By Lois M. Collins
Deseret Morning News
Published: Oct. 2, 2007 12:06 a.m. MDT


Patients with severe pain who use opioid-based medications may suffer sleep apnea and its complications, including greater likelihood of death, according to a study in Pain Medicine, the journal of the American Academy of Pain Medicine.

The research shows that three-fourths of patients on chronic opioid therapy have some degree of sleep apnea, said Dr. Lynn R. Webster of Lifetree Clinical Research and Pain Clinic in Salt Lake City, who is lead author on the study. They also found a "direct dose-response relationship" between central sleep apnea and methadone used with benzodiazepines.

Webster said sleep apnea may be an underlying factor in the increase in unintentional overdose deaths linked to opioid pain medications, especially methadone.

The research also showed that as many as one-third of patients being treated with opioids had a component of sleep apnea called central sleep apnea, rather than the more common obstructive sleep apnea. Central apnea is when the body makes no effort to breathe, the part of the brain responsible for respiration malfunctioning. It's also harder to spot, because some of the telltale hints with obstructive sleep apnea, such as being overweight and loud snoring, are absent.

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