WVU in the News: Opiates linked to escalation of care in patients with heart failure at high risk for sleep-disordered breathing

In-hospital opiate use is associated with an increased likelihood of escalation of care in adults with acute heart failure who are at high-risk for sleep-disordered breathing, a recent study suggests.

“In patients acutely admitted to the hospital, the combination of sleep apnea and opioids in heart failure patients can be very detrimental and may lead to worsening of respiratory failure requiring ICU-level care,” Sunil Sharma, MD, N. Leroy Lapp Professor and chief of the section of pulmonary, critical care and sleep medicine at West Virginia University, wrote in an email to Healio Pulmonology. “Clinicians need to be cognizant of the high prevalence of undiagnosed sleep apnea in hospitalized patients.”

Read the full story in Healio Pulmonology.