Cardio-pulmonary Disorder - COPD

[waltky]

Sleep apnea treatment may help COPD...

Can a treatment for sleep apnea help copd?
Sleep apnea occurs when you stop breathing while sleeping.

In addition to the bothersome side effects of snoring and daytime sleepiness, it can raise your risk for heart disease. If you have sleep apnea along with COPD, the risk to your heart and your health is exponentially higher. Fortunately, a machine designed to treat sleep apnea may also help your COPD. A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device uses gentle pressure to keep your airways open. According to a new study, people with both COPD and sleep apnea who use CPAP at night run less risk of dying of their diseases.

A Dangerous Overlap

Often, a blockage or collapse in your upper airway causes sleep apnea. About 10% to 20% of people with sleep apnea have COPD, and about 1% of all Americans have both conditions. Health care providers call this “the overlap syndrome.” Left untreated, sleep apnea increases your risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. You’re already at higher risk for heart disease if you have COPD. If you have the overlap syndrome, the two conditions interact and increase your risk of dying from heart disease even more.

How CPAP Helps Your Lungs

That’s where the CPAP device comes in. To use it, you put a mask over your nose and possibly your mouth, as well. A tube connects the mask to a machine that blows air with a fan. This flowing air pushes your tongue forward and opens your throat so you can breathe easier. CPAP is the most common treatment for sleep apnea, and it may also provide benefits to those with COPD. By restoring your blood oxygen levels at night, CPAP can actually slow down the inflammatory processes of COPD that damage your lungs.

What’s more, using a CPAP machine may reduce the amount of work your breathing muscles need to do on their own. It also can prevent your lungs from overinflating. This is a common occurrence in people with COPD that makes breathing more difficult. As a result of using CPAP, you might be able to walk more or otherwise be more active during the day. This makes your life easier, and it can also improve your lungs and overall health.

Ask Your Health Care Provider About CPAP

 

[Jackson]

Sleep apnea treatment may help COPD...

Can a treatment for sleep apnea help copd?
Sleep apnea occurs when you stop breathing while sleeping.

In addition to the bothersome side effects of snoring and daytime sleepiness, it can raise your risk for heart disease. If you have sleep apnea along with COPD, the risk to your heart and your health is exponentially higher. Fortunately, a machine designed to treat sleep apnea may also help your COPD. A continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) device uses gentle pressure to keep your airways open. According to a new study, people with both COPD and sleep apnea who use CPAP at night run less risk of dying of their diseases.

A Dangerous Overlap

Often, a blockage or collapse in your upper airway causes sleep apnea. About 10% to 20% of people with sleep apnea have COPD, and about 1% of all Americans have both conditions. Health care providers call this “the overlap syndrome.” Left untreated, sleep apnea increases your risk for high blood pressure, stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. You’re already at higher risk for heart disease if you have COPD. If you have the overlap syndrome, the two conditions interact and increase your risk of dying from heart disease even more.

How CPAP Helps Your Lungs

That’s where the CPAP device comes in. To use it, you put a mask over your nose and possibly your mouth, as well. A tube connects the mask to a machine that blows air with a fan. This flowing air pushes your tongue forward and opens your throat so you can breathe easier. CPAP is the most common treatment for sleep apnea, and it may also provide benefits to those with COPD. By restoring your blood oxygen levels at night, CPAP can actually slow down the inflammatory processes of COPD that damage your lungs.

What’s more, using a CPAP machine may reduce the amount of work your breathing muscles need to do on their own. It also can prevent your lungs from overinflating. This is a common occurrence in people with COPD that makes breathing more difficult. As a result of using CPAP, you might be able to walk more or otherwise be more active during the day. This makes your life easier, and it can also improve your lungs and overall health.

Ask Your Health Care Provider About CPAP

Thank you for this information. I have COPD and was scheduled to do the tests for sleep apnea for my brother has it and my doctor was sure I was a candidate. I cancelled the test because I discovered I didn't have insurance coverage at the University where I was being seen.

Now that I see that a CPAP could help me breathe during the day and live a more normal life, I am making an appointment to see my doctor to reschedule this appointment. Thanks again.

 

[waltky]

Omega 3 fatty acids may be effective against pneumonia, bronchitis and ear infections...

Omega 3 fatty acids may reduce infections for COPD patients
March 16, 2016 - A derivative of the fish oil could also be effective against pneumonia, bronchitis and ear infections, all of which are caused by the same bacteria.

Omega-3 fatty acids could help the body fight lung infections common to inflammatory diseases such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, according to new research. The acids, found in salmon, helped clear inflammation tied to infection from nontypeable haemophilus influenzae, or NTHi, while not reducing the immune systems and may have also helped clear the infection itself, University of Rochester researchers report in The Journal of Immunology.

The researchers said the findings show bacterial infection and inflammation, while related, are not tied to each other, based on results with mice showing either improved lung function despite infection, or faster elimination of the bacteria. "We never really knew why diets high in omega fatty acids seemed good, but now we know it's because they provide the precursors for molecules that help shut down excessive inflammation," Dr. Richard Phipps, a professor of environmental medicine at the University of Rochester, in a press release.

Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish such as salmon, may effectively treat a range of lung infections by reducing inflammation, improving lung function and helping the immune system clear bacteria from the organ, researchers at the University of Rochester found in a recent study.​

The researchers used a derivative of omega-3 fatty acids in mice, finding inflammation went down while their immune systems continued to kill off NTHi bacteria and lung function improved. Further research is needed to find whether the treatment would be effective in people, but researchers say it could help people with ear infections, bronchitis and pneumonia, as well as COPD, which are all caused by NTHi.

Omega 3 fatty acids may reduce infections for COPD patients

Granny says have yer doctor check yer coronary calcium score...

High coronary calcium score may indicate higher cancer risk
March 17, 2016 - The score was also associated with a higher risk for kidney and lung disease, researchers said.

A high coronary artery calcium score was associated with developing lung and kidney disease, though high calcium was not shown to be a cause, according researches at Johns Hopkins University. Coronary calcium levels are widely used method for monitoring heart and vascular disease, though researchers say the score can indicate seemingly unrelated conditions because of the effects of higher calcium and its resulting inflammation. Coronary artery calcium scores are determined using heart CT scans to measure the amount and density of calcium in blood vessels, with higher scores indicating risk levels for coronary heart disease and stroke.

"Plaque in the arteries is the result of cumulative damage and inflammation, and vulnerability to injury and chronic inflammation likely contributes to diseases like cancer, kidney and lung diseases, as well as cardiovascular disease," Dr. Michael Blaha, director of clinical research at the Ciccarone Center for the Prevention of Heart Disease, said in a press release. "So it makes sense that the coronary calcium score -- a measure of arterial aging -- is predictive of noncardiovascular diseases too." For the study, published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology: Cardiovascular Imaging, researchers recruited 6,814 participants between the ages of 45 to 84 who did not have cardiovascular disease, following them for a median of 10.2 years.

Rather than measuring individual risk factors, researches said calcium buildup in arteries is the result of several risk factors at once, making it a better measure for cardiovascular, as well as noncardiovascular, diseases.​

Overall, 1,238 participants were diagnosed with a noncardiovascular disease, including cancer, kidney disease, pneumonia, blood clot, lung disease or hip fracture. Just 11 percent of participants with no coronary artery calcium were diagnosed with a noncardiovascular disease, compared to 36.9 percent of those with scores over 400. Two-thirds of cancer diagnoses were among patients with calcium detected in their arteries, and higher levels were linked to an increased risk of disease: cancer risk increased 53 percent, kidney disease increased 70 percent, the risk for lung disease nearly tripled and risk for hip fracture increased by more than four times.

Patients with coronary artery calcium levels of zero saw their risk for all noncardiovascular disease decline significantly, ranging from a 23 percent drop in risk for kidney disease to 69 percent drop in hip fracture risk. "The reason the coronary calcium score may work so well at identifying vulnerability to a variety of chronic diseases is because it's a direct measurement of the cumulative effect of all risk factors, rather than a consideration of a single risk factor, like obesity, smoking or high blood pressure," Blaha said.

High coronary calcium score may indicate higher cancer risk