Hanoi man was found to have sleep apnea after contracting COVID-19

Doctors of Respiratory Center (Bach Mai Hospital) have just received NXA patient (41 years old, in Hanoi) with apnea, the lowest SpO2 index is nearly 50%. According to Mr. A’s share, 3 weeks ago, his family contracted COVID-19 so he bought a SpO2 meter to monitor at home. However, he discovered that when he slept, he often had episodes of very low blood oxygen. Family members observed that sometimes it was less than 70%.

Afraid of having cardiopulmonary sequelae due to COVID-19, Mr. A went to the Respiratory Center, Bach Mai Hospital. At the clinic, the doctors discovered that he had symptoms such as snoring, headache, daytime sleepiness, and lost focus on work for a long time, but he had not been detected and diagnosed.

After that, Mr. A was measured sleep polysomnography, the results showed that the patient had severe sleep apnea with AHI >70, the longest apnea lasted 70 seconds and the lowest SpO2 was nearly 50%. Immediately, the patient was consulted for treatment with CPAP ventilation method. Initially showed a good response, Mr. A was less sleepy and awake the next day.

Sleep apnea is very dangerous if not detected in time. (Illustration)

Sleep apnea (OSA) is a common condition today, but the disease is little known and cared about in the community, although it can have very serious complications, even death.

According to statistics, the prevalence in North America is 15-30% in men and 10-15% in women. Global estimates suggest that there are more than 936 million people with OSA between the ages of 30 and 69. The main associated factors were age, gender, obesity, and airway abnormalities.

Sleep apnea, if not detected and treated promptly, can cause systemic hypoxia, affecting organs such as the heart, lungs, kidneys, pancreas, brain, etc. blood pressure, increased risk of cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction and sudden death. Currently, the gold standard for diagnosing sleep apnea is polysomnography and polysomnography.