In an Australian world-first, researchers
have successfully repurposed two existing medications to reduce the severity of
sleep apnea in people by at least 30 per cent.
Affecting millions around the world, sleep
apnea is a condition where the upper airway from the back of the nose to the
throat closes repetitively during sleep, restricting oxygen intake and causing
people to wake as often as 100 times or more per hour.
Those with untreated sleep apnea are more
likely to develop cardiovascular disease, dementia and depression, and are two
to four times more likely to crash a car than the general population.
Despite almost thirty years of research,
there are no approved drug therapies to treat the condition.
Professor Danny Eckert, Principal Research
Scientist at NeuRA and Professor and Director of Adelaide Institute for Sleep
Health at Flinders University, has brought scientists one step closer by
repurposing two existing medications to test their efficacy in people in sleep
apnea.
Previous research showed two classes of
medication, reboxetine and butylbromide, were able to keep muscles active
during sleep in people without sleep apnea, and assist their ability to
breathe.
By repurposing the medications, researchers
used a multitude of recording instruments to measure whether reboxetine and
butylbromide could successfully target the main causes of sleep apnea.
This included balancing the electrical
activity of muscles around the airway, preventing the throat from collapsing
while people were sleeping, and improving the regulation of carbon dioxide and
breathing during sleep.
Results from the study showed these
medications did in fact increase the muscle activity around participants'
airways, with the drugs reducing the severity of participants' sleep apnea by
up to one-third.
Almost everyone we studied had some
improvement in sleep apnea. People's oxygen intake improved, their number of
breathing stoppages was a third or more less. We were thrilled because the
current treatment options for people with sleep apnea are limited and can be a
painful journey for many."
Professor Danny Eckert, Principal
Research Scientist at NeuRA and Professor and Director of Adelaide Institute
for Sleep Health at Flinders University
These new findings allow researchers to
further refine these types of medications so that they have even greater
benefit than what has currently been found.
"Next, we will look at the effects of
these and similar medications over the longer term. We will assess whether we
can harness the benefits of one drug without needing to use them both.
"Equally, we will test whether these
treatments can be combined with other existing medications to see if we can
improve their efficacy even more," said Professor Eckert.
Until now, the main therapy for sleep apnea
involves wearing a mask to bed, or Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy
(CPAP), which benefits millions.
However, many people find it uncomfortable
and half the people that try it find it hard to tolerate. Plus, the efficacy of
second line therapies, such as mouthguards fitted by dentists, can be
unpredictable and expensive.
Contact :
TriMedicare
Sleep Care Unit
1st Floor, 68/113A Jessore Road, Amarpally, Dum Dum, Kolkata – 700074
Email : trimedicare@aol.com
Call : (+91) 7003945473
(+91) 8777052658
(+91) 9883235935
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