People suffering from sleep apnea may face higher risk of pneumonia

A new study has revealed that people who have sleep apnea, may be at a higher risk of contracting pneumonia.

According to researchers from department of Chest Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, pneumonia was more likely to develop in the people with sleep apnea than the people without it.

The study, conducted on 34,100 patients, found that people with pneumonia were older and had more co-morbidities such as heart disease, diabetes, dementia and other diseases.

According to the research, higher incidence of pneumonia in people with sleep apnea could be because of increased risk of aspirating contents or liquid from the throat.

Dr. Vincent Yi-Fong Su and Dr. Kun-Ta Chou said that the study showed that sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for incident pneumonia, and that there was an exposure–response relation in that patients with more severe sleep apnea, as they may be at a higher risk of pneumonia than patients with sleep apnea of milder severity.

The study is published in Canadian Medical Association Journal (CMAJ).