800,000 Vietnamese suffer from obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

Duong Quy Sy, Chairman of the ASEAN Sleep Federation, said
that polygraphy tests record patients’ brain waves, oxygen level in the blood,
heart rate, breathing, and eye and leg movements.

Speaking at a conference on sleep medicine held last weekend at Pham Ngoc Thach
University of Medicine, Sy said: “OSA is a serious pathology and major risk
factor for cardiovascular diseases.”

The serious sleep disorder impairs quality of life, as well as intellectual and
professional performances, and can also lead to accidents in the workplace and
in traffic, he added.

“Untreated increases the rate of road traffic accidents and work-related
and domestic accidents because patients often fall asleep or experience severe
daytime drowsiness while driving,” Sy said.

A single road accident due to sleepiness caused by OSAS can incur considerable
health costs, he said, adding that undiagnosed OSAS leads to higher medical
costs.

“Family medicine clinics should screen patients to find out if they have a high
risk of OSAS and refer them to specialised centres for or even
respiratory polygraphy,” Sy said.

The cost for diagnosis of OSAS is rather high, he said.

A sleep lab, for instance, is worth 100,000 to 200,000 USD. The cost of polysomnography
is 150-200 USD and 50-75 USD for respiratory polygraphy.

Patients with severe OSAS need continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
treatment which costs 1,000 to 2,000 USD.

“Currently, the country’s health insurance fund has not yet covered this cost
for CPAP treatment,” he added.

The country has nearly 10 centres for polysomnography or even respiratory
polygraphy, most of them in large cities such as HCM City and Hanoi.

“Less than 300 use continuous positive airway pressure treatment,” Sy said.

Sleep medicine expert Nguyen Xuan Bich Huyen of the Community Health Care
Centre said that smoking, secondhand smoke, overuse of tranquillizers,
diabetes, and abnormal skull and facial structure could lead to OSAS.

Patients with the disorder often experience excessive daytime sleepiness, loud
snoring, nighttime sweating and other symptoms.

“They also experience mood changes, such as depression or irritability, and
have difficulty concentrating during the day and have morning headaches,” Huyen
said.

Dr Sy said that OSAS is an independent risk factor for hypertension and
increase risk of cardiovascular disease, abnormal glucose metabolism, and
depression.

It also is associated with cardiovascular, cerebrovascular and metabolic
disorders, he said.

“It increases morbidity and mortality in the general population,” he said,
adding that OSAS is associated with a large number of medical complaints and
with annual healthcare costs per person of 50 percent to 100 percent more than
those for the general population.-VNS/VNA