23
views
0
recommends
+1 Recommend
0 collections
    0
    shares
      • Record: found
      • Abstract: not found
      • Article: not found

      Effects of Oral Narcotics on Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Healthy Adults

      , , , , ,
      Chest
      American College of Chest Physicians

      Read this article at

      ScienceOpenPublisherPubMed
      Bookmark
          There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

          Abstract

          Alcohol and benzodiazepines may increase sleep-disordered breathing by decreasing activity of pharyngeal dilating muscles, favoring the development of obstructive apneas and hypopneas. Narcotics cause greater depression of wakeful respiration than the previously mentioned drugs; however, the influence of narcotics on the upper airway and breathing during sleep has not been studied. We, therefore, examined, in 12 healthy adults, the effects of oral hydromorphone hydrochloride (2 and 4 mg) on breathing during sleep and on a variety of awake respiratory variables (minute ventilation, gas exchange, and chemoresponsiveness). In addition, awake pharyngeal inspiratory airflow resistance was determined before and after narcotic administration to assess the drug's influence on patency of the upper airway. Following both doses, minute ventilation decreased, and carbon dioxide pressure increased. The 4-mg dose of hydromorphone hydrochloride also produced a significant decrement in the hypoxic ventilatory response, whereas hypercapnic responsiveness and pharyngeal resistance did not change following either dose of the drug. Despite the respiratory depression during wakefulness described previously, no significant change was observed in any measure of sleep-disordered breathing after either dose of narcotic. We conclude that in healthy individuals without suspected sleep apnea, oral hydromorphone in standard dosages does not significantly increase sleep-disordered breathing. This result may be due to a lack of selective depression of upper-airway muscular function by the doses of narcotic used.

          Related collections

          Author and article information

          Journal
          Chest
          Chest
          American College of Chest Physicians
          00123692
          February 1987
          February 1987
          : 91
          : 2
          : 197-203
          Article
          10.1378/chest.91.2.197
          2433098
          0741f5eb-968d-4a59-99f5-8bb867d5a577
          © 1987

          https://www.elsevier.com/tdm/userlicense/1.0/

          History

          Comments

          Comment on this article