The question: If overweight people with sleep apnea lose weight, might the breathing disruptions that disturb their sleep lessen?
This study: It involved 72 people who were overweight and had mild obstructive sleep apnea. They were randomly assigned to a group that followed a very-low-calorie diet for three months and received counseling on diet, exercise and lifestyle modification periodically for a year, or to a group that was given general diet and exercise information three times in a year. People in the diet group lost, on average, about 24 pounds in 12 months; weight loss in the other group averaged five pounds. Based on standardized scales, sleep-apnea symptoms improved in both groups; but overall, the more weight lost, the greater the improvement. About 88 percent of those who lost more than 33 pounds were described as "cured" of sleep apnea, as were 62 percent of those losing 11 to 33 pounds and 38 percent of those who lost fewer than 11 pounds.
Who may be affected? People who are overweight and have sleep apnea, characterized by breathing that repeatedly stops and starts, interrupting sleep, and often is accompanied by loud snoring.
Caveats: The study did not include, for comparison, people with sleep apnea who were given no treatment.
Find this study: Feb. 15 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
Learn more: www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health and www.sleepfoundation.org.
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