2013 – The impact of benzodiazepine use in nocturnal O2 saturation of OSAS patients
Sleep Medicine, 14, Supplement 1, e141-e142, ISSN 1389-9457 (Conference Proceedings)
Abstract: Benzodiazepines, sedative hypnotic drugs, are indiscriminately used in patients with insomnia, independently of the OSA exclusion. It’s well known these drugs may adversely affect the control of ventilation during sleep, leading to a worsening of various respiratory parameters, including peripheral O2 saturation. To evaluate the impact of use of benzodiazepines in AHI and O2 peripheral saturation on OSA patients we retrospectively analyzed 515 patients diagnosed in our Sleep Medicine Centre with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and collected polysomnography, demographic, clinical, and anthropometric data as well as Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) value, and use of benzodiazepines (BZD) at diagnosis The results show that the use of benzodiazepines is associated with a lower minSO2 during sleep among OSA patients, but the weight of these drugs effect is diluted with the severity index, which can be explain by the gain of impact of a higher number of apneas/hyponeas. This emphasize the importance of have caution with benzodiazepine prescription as they can increase the effects of other diseases in particular sleep disorders breathing.
Access here: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sleep.2013.11.320