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BALTIMORE — Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with significant morbidity among hospital inpatients, based on a review of about 60,000 hospitalized patients at a single facility during a 2-year period.
“Our goal was to characterize the frequency with which OSA patients needed acute care,” said Dr. Lisa Wolfe of the division of pulmonary medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago. She presented the results at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Increased morbidity has been linked with OSA in outpatients, but the impact of OSA on inpatients has not been well studied, Dr. Wolfe said. The Joint Commission has asked the medical community to comment on how to curb postoperative complications in patients with OSA, she noted.
Dr. Wolfe and her colleagues reviewed data on all patients hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, from September 2005 to May 2007. Acute care management was defined as rapid response team calls, code calls, or unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit. OSA was identified based on medical records.
Overall, 56 of 1,377 patients with OSA required action from a rapid response team, compared with 800 of 59,030 patients without OSA (4.1% vs. 1.4%). Significantly more patients with OSA required code calls, compared with patients without OSA (2.9% vs. 1.7%). On average, one patient with OSA underwent acute care management every 4.5 days.
“We know that OSA is a predictor for other health problems,” Dr. Wolfe said.
The study was limited by its use of medical records and by a lack of data on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, but the findings support results from previous studies and emphasize the need for enhanced monitoring of hospitalized patients with OSA to reduce their use of acute care resources, she noted.
The topic of OSA as a marker of increased mortality in hospitalized patients attracted national attention in the wake of a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in 2001, Dr. Wolfe said. In that study, which included patients who had undergone surgeries for hip or knee replacements, patients with OSA were significantly more likely to have complications, compared with control patients without OSA. The complications often were serious and led to longer hospital stays.
Further studies are needed to explore ways to ensure patient safety and to assess the implications of improved monitoring strategies for hospitalized patients with OSA, Dr. Wolfe added. She reported that she had no financial conflicts to disclose.
BALTIMORE — Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with significant morbidity among hospital inpatients, based on a review of about 60,000 hospitalized patients at a single facility during a 2-year period.
“Our goal was to characterize the frequency with which OSA patients needed acute care,” said Dr. Lisa Wolfe of the division of pulmonary medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago. She presented the results at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Increased morbidity has been linked with OSA in outpatients, but the impact of OSA on inpatients has not been well studied, Dr. Wolfe said. The Joint Commission has asked the medical community to comment on how to curb postoperative complications in patients with OSA, she noted.
Dr. Wolfe and her colleagues reviewed data on all patients hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, from September 2005 to May 2007. Acute care management was defined as rapid response team calls, code calls, or unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit. OSA was identified based on medical records.
Overall, 56 of 1,377 patients with OSA required action from a rapid response team, compared with 800 of 59,030 patients without OSA (4.1% vs. 1.4%). Significantly more patients with OSA required code calls, compared with patients without OSA (2.9% vs. 1.7%). On average, one patient with OSA underwent acute care management every 4.5 days.
“We know that OSA is a predictor for other health problems,” Dr. Wolfe said.
The study was limited by its use of medical records and by a lack of data on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, but the findings support results from previous studies and emphasize the need for enhanced monitoring of hospitalized patients with OSA to reduce their use of acute care resources, she noted.
The topic of OSA as a marker of increased mortality in hospitalized patients attracted national attention in the wake of a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in 2001, Dr. Wolfe said. In that study, which included patients who had undergone surgeries for hip or knee replacements, patients with OSA were significantly more likely to have complications, compared with control patients without OSA. The complications often were serious and led to longer hospital stays.
Further studies are needed to explore ways to ensure patient safety and to assess the implications of improved monitoring strategies for hospitalized patients with OSA, Dr. Wolfe added. She reported that she had no financial conflicts to disclose.
BALTIMORE — Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with significant morbidity among hospital inpatients, based on a review of about 60,000 hospitalized patients at a single facility during a 2-year period.
“Our goal was to characterize the frequency with which OSA patients needed acute care,” said Dr. Lisa Wolfe of the division of pulmonary medicine at Northwestern University, Chicago. She presented the results at the annual meeting of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies.
Increased morbidity has been linked with OSA in outpatients, but the impact of OSA on inpatients has not been well studied, Dr. Wolfe said. The Joint Commission has asked the medical community to comment on how to curb postoperative complications in patients with OSA, she noted.
Dr. Wolfe and her colleagues reviewed data on all patients hospitalized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Chicago, from September 2005 to May 2007. Acute care management was defined as rapid response team calls, code calls, or unplanned transfers to the intensive care unit. OSA was identified based on medical records.
Overall, 56 of 1,377 patients with OSA required action from a rapid response team, compared with 800 of 59,030 patients without OSA (4.1% vs. 1.4%). Significantly more patients with OSA required code calls, compared with patients without OSA (2.9% vs. 1.7%). On average, one patient with OSA underwent acute care management every 4.5 days.
“We know that OSA is a predictor for other health problems,” Dr. Wolfe said.
The study was limited by its use of medical records and by a lack of data on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, but the findings support results from previous studies and emphasize the need for enhanced monitoring of hospitalized patients with OSA to reduce their use of acute care resources, she noted.
The topic of OSA as a marker of increased mortality in hospitalized patients attracted national attention in the wake of a study conducted at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., in 2001, Dr. Wolfe said. In that study, which included patients who had undergone surgeries for hip or knee replacements, patients with OSA were significantly more likely to have complications, compared with control patients without OSA. The complications often were serious and led to longer hospital stays.
Further studies are needed to explore ways to ensure patient safety and to assess the implications of improved monitoring strategies for hospitalized patients with OSA, Dr. Wolfe added. She reported that she had no financial conflicts to disclose.