Nasal surgery may improve quality of life for sleep apnea patients

Washington, Apr 22 : Researchers claim that when patients with obstructive sleep apnea and symptoms of nasal blockages undergo nasal surgery to remove obstructions from the airway, it leads to improvements in their quality of life.

The researchers said that obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by episodes of partial or complete blockage of the airway during sleep, leading to snoring and daytime sleepiness.

Also, blockage of the nasal passages is generally observed in OSA patients, causing fragmented sleep and leading to daytime tiredness and poor quality of life.

In the study, Hsueh-Yu Li, M.D., of Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan, and colleagues assessed 51 consecutive patients with OSA (50 men and one woman, average age 39) and symptoms of nasal obstruction who underwent nasal surgery as initial treatment.

The patients were made to complete questionnaires regarding their symptoms, sleepiness, snoring and overall quality of life before and three months after the procedure.

It was found that after surgery, symptoms of nasal obstruction improved significantly, and there was a marked improvement on scales measuring snoring and sleepiness. A slight improvement also was seen in overall health status.

"The degrees of quality of life improvement, compared with the preoperative generic health status, were 30.4 percent for role-emotional [problems with work or daily activities caused by emotional difficulties], 20.7 percent for role-physical, 18.9 percent for vitality, 14.8 percent for mental health, 11.4 percent for generic health, 7.4 percent for social functioning, 1.6 percent for physical functioning and 1 percent for bodily pain. These results suggest that, when nasal obstruction in OSA patients was relieved, their generic health improved and that the effects were especially remarkable in reducing role limitations caused by physical or emotional problems," wrote the authors.

They concluded by saying: "Our findings substantiate the role of nasal surgery in treating nasal obstruction among OSA patients."

The study is published in the recent issue of Archives of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

ANI