Compression Stockings May Reduce OSA in Some Patients

Wearing compression stockings may be a simple low-tech way to improve obstructive sleep apnea in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, according to French researchers.

”We found that in patients with chronic venous insufficiency, compression stockings reduced daytime fluid accumulation in the legs, which in turn reduced the amount of fluid flowing into the neck at night, thereby reducing the number of apneas and hypopnea by more than a third,” said Stefania Redolfi, MD, of the University of Brescia in Italy, who led the research.

CVI occurs when a patient’s veins cannot pump enough oxygen-depleted blood back to the heart. It occurs most often in the veins of the legs. The findings appear online ahead of the final publication of the American Thoracic Society’s American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Full text of the original article can be found here: http://www.thoracic.org/media/press-releases/resources/redolfi-080211.pdf

Contact information for researcher: Stefania Redolfi, MD, Respiratory Medicine Unit, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy.

E-Mail: redstefi@inwind.it