Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) increases the risk of obstructive sleep
apnea (OSA), a condition where the throat muscles relax too much and thus hinder
normal breathing. A new study, which evaluated how COPD affects the severity and
characteristics of OSA in a multivariate demographic database including
polysomnographic signals, found that COPD increases the OSA risk due to
hypoventilation and altered SpO2 behavior. The researchers who conducted the
study published in PubMed, said that they found SpO2 subtle variations, such as more
non-recovered desaturations and increased time below a 90 percent SpO2 level, which
could lead to risks of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, including heart
diseases and lung cancer as well.