Author/Authors :
Jen, Rachel Department of Medicine - University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada , Li, Yanru Department of Otorhinolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery - Sleep Medicine Center - Beijing Tongren Hospital - Capital Medical University, Beijing China , Owens, Robert L. Division of Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine - University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA , Malhotra, Atul Division of Pulmonary Critical Care and Sleep Medicine - University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, USA
Abstract :
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) prevalence is rising to epidemic proportions due to historical smoking trends,
the aging of the population, and air pollution. Although blaming the victims has been common in COPD, the majority of COPD
worldwide is now thought to be nonsmoking related, that is, caused by air pollution and cookstove exposure. It is increasingly
appreciated that subjective and objective sleep disturbances are common in COPD, although strong epidemiological data are
lacking. People with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) plus COPD (the so-called overlap syndrome) have a high risk of cardiovascular
death, although again mechanisms are unknown and untested. This review aims to draw attention to the problem of sleep in COPD,
to encourage clinicians to ask their patients about symptoms, and to stimulate further research in this area given the large burden
of the disease.
