Cozad Community Hospital Sleep Lab Accredited
Friday, March 24, 2017
The Cozad Community Health System has been approved for accreditation for the Sleep Program by the Accreditation Commission for Health Care, Inc. The federal government stated all sleep labs in the state of Nebraska need accredited for Medicare patients. There are many studies that the Sleep Lab at the Cozad Community Hospital can provide to patients.
Sleep apnea is a sleeping disorder where breathing repeatedly stops and starts. Major warning signs of sleep apnea are loud snoring every night, snorting or gasping during sleep, pauses in breathing, waking up at night feeling shortness of breath, and daytime sleepiness and fatigue no matter how many hours of sleep.
There are three types of sleep apnea: obstructive, central, and complex. Obstructive sleep apnea is the more common form that occurs when throat muscles relax. Causes of obstructive sleep apnea include excess weight, neck circumference, narrow airway, being male, family history, smoking, nasal congestion, alcohol, or being older. This form causes people to snore loudly. Central sleep apnea is a much less common form, which occurs when the brain doesn’t send the proper signals to the muscles that control breathing. A couple causes of central sleep apnea are strokes and heart disorders. People with this form rarely snore. Complex sleep apnea is a combination of both obstructive sleep apnea and central sleep apnea.
If you think you are experiencing symptoms of sleep apnea, see your doctor. Treatment can lighten your symptoms and may be able to help prevent heart problems and other complications.
Not only can the Cozad Community Hospital Sleep Lab treat adults, but pediatrics as well. Obesity is a growing problem in American children and one that carries serious metabolic and cardiopulmonary consequences, including an increased risk of sleep-disordered breathing. Between 2009 and 2010, the prevalence of obesity in US children and adolescents was 16.9 %.Worldwide, overweight and obesity estimates are approximately 43 million people; numbers continue to rise at alarming rates.
Obesity in children is defined as body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to the 95th percentile of the BMI for age as shown on growth charts of boys and girls aged 2-19 years. BMI percentiles are calculated based on sex and age reference charts and are used in contrast to absolute BMI because the amount of body fat changes with age and differs in boys and girls.
The spectrum of sleep disordered breathing ranges. The range can be from habitual snoring, to upper airway resistance syndrome, to obstructive sleep apnea, and to obstructive apnea or hypoventilation syndrome.
The presence of sleep-disordered breathing is an additional risk factor for cardiovascular morbidity in obese individuals and has been independently linked to metabolic syndrome. The behavioral and cognitive sequelae of sleep-disordered breathing both in children and adults have now been well described and have been listed in Clinical Presentation.
Obesity-hypoventilation syndrome (OHS), previously referred to as the Pickwickian syndrome, is characterized by obesity, sleep-disordered breathing and chronic daytime alveolar hypoventilation. The majority of patients with OHS have obstructive sleep apnea (90%); the remaining 10% have sleep-hypoventilation.
Cozad Community Hospital can now do sleep studies on children with sleep disorders. If you think your child has a sleep disorder, please contact your doctor to have your child evaluated. Cindy Benjamin, RRT and Anna Howell, RPSGT would be glad to assist you in the Cozad Community Hospital Sleep Lab.
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