Nawaloka Hospital Sleep Lab study finds 60% of patients suffer obstructed breathing

The Sleep Lab at the Sri Lankan private healthcare pioneer Nawaloka Hospital has tested approximately 900 patients since August 2009, which is an average of 20 patients a month. 60% of these cases tested positive for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

This disorder causes frequent cessation of breathing during sleep, often for more than ten seconds at a time. And it has become more prevalent with the increasing incidence of obesity, the root cause of OSA and many other sleep disorders, which is growing increasingly common amongst more affluent societies.  

OSA can be treated commonly through weight reduction and other lifestyle changes, and these can sometimes also include specialised oral appliances to relieve snoring or mild sleep apnea. However, about 35% of patients diagnosed with OSA have a serious enough form of this condition, and they may have to be treated by certain Ear, Nose and Throat (ENT) surgeries, when appropriate.

The most effective and common treatment for OSA is the use of the Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) device, which requires that patients participate in an overnight sleep study at the Nawaloka Hospital Sleep Lab.

Sleep studies allow doctors to fully monitor a patient’s vital signs during their sleep cycle, which enables the specialists to then identify sleep related breathing disorders and assess the severity of these conditions. If untreated, obstructed breathing disorders may heighten the risks associated with high blood pressure, as well as causing heart attacks, strokes and hormonal disorders, such as impotency. In addition, these could also increase the incidence of motor vehicle or work related accidents.

OSA affects 2.3% of the population for a country like the UK, while the corresponding statistics for Sri Lanka are not known. Other common sleep disorders include insomnia, loud snoring, excessive sleepiness and abnormal movement and behaviour during sleep.

Providing access to a unique, state-of-the-art laboratory, the Nawaloka Hospital Sleep Lab features an experienced consultant and staff. It is also one of the only private healthcare institutions in Sri Lanka to offer polysomnography, a specialised test for OSA diagnosis.

With more than 400 beds and 600 visiting medical consultants, Nawaloka Hospital is the largest local private hospital in a single location, which is also the country’s first fully fledged private healthcare institution, opened in 1985 with only 100 beds. The hospital was responsible for the well-being of over 1.5 million patients in total during the 2011/2012 period, during which it also carried out close to 15,000 surgeries.