Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine, Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi
*Corresponding Author Dr J C Suri Consultant, Professor and Head Department of Pulmonary, Critical Care & Sleep Medicine Vardhaman Mahavir Medical College and Safdarjang Hospital, New Delhi Email: docjcsuri@gmail.com
Online published on 18 April, 2014.
The co-occurrence of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) and sleep Disordered breathing (SDB) is labeled as “overlap syndrome ”. In this condition several factors interplay to accentuate sleep induced changes in arterial gases(drop in PaO2 and rise in PaCo2) and the patients experience more night-time desaturations and hypoventilation as compared to either disease alone. The end-result is that there is increased chance of developing diurnal respiratory failure. Having a high index of suspicion and keeping a low threshold for evaluation of SDB in COPD patients is essential. The treatment involves addressing the individual diseases beside instituting Positive airway pressure therapy (Continuous Positive airway pressure or Bi-level Positive airway pressure).
