How the bodily functions present in patients with OSA and COPD

What is it about?

We looked back at patients notes to find out how many patients we look after who have "overlap syndrome". This is the co-existence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) (pauses or under breathing during sleep) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) (damage to the lungs usually from smoking). We also wanted to look at the bodily functions of those patients. We found in our service that 3.1% of patients had overlap syndrome. Patients who had severe or very severe COPD and OSA had higher waste gas levels. Even in patients with mild COPD their oxygen levels were low overnight.

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Why is it important?

Understanding the bodily functions of patients with overlap syndrome is important in making sure we give them the correct treatment. More work is needed to try and work out how people might respond to treatment and how overlap syndrome affects the bodily systems.