Reboxetine, an antidepressant drug used to treat severe depression would help fight sleep apnea.
Restless sleep, snoring…Sleep apnea or obstructive sleep apnea–hypopnea syndrome affects 4% of the population in France. It is a disorder of nocturnal ventilation due to the abnormally frequent occurrence of respiratory pauses. This syndrome is due to repeated episodes of obstruction of the respiratory tracts of the back throat, details the health insurance.
Risks of stroke
Sleep apnea affects daily activities: uncontrollable drowsiness, difficulty concentrating, memory and mood disorders. In the long term, obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome increases mortality, in particular through cardiovascular concerns. It promotes high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart failure and heart rhythm disorders but also the risk ofaccident cerebrovascular.
Our results showed that reboxetine alone could reduce the severity of sleep apnea
Recently, hope has been born since researchers have just found a treatment thanks to reboxetine, originally prescribed as an antidepressant. During different experiences with patients withSleep Apneathe scientists noted excellent results: “Our results showed that reboxetine alone could reduce the severity of sleep apnea. We found that the drug reduced the number of sleep apnea events per hour and also improved oxygen levels”says one of the participants.
An important milestone for future drug development
Dr. Altree, who participated in the study, specifies that ‘the current reference treatment for sleep apnea consists of using a CPAP device during sleep. But this one-size-fits-all approach fails to take into account that there are different causes of sleep apnea. Additionally, many people may not tolerate long-term CPAP; It is therefore important that we find other ways to help people, and this study is an important step for future drug development.”