NEWS TIPS FROM ATS JOURNALS
For Release: January 16, 1997 6:00 p.m.
For the complete text of these articles or for more information, contact:
Christina Sheperd, American Thoracic Society, at
(212) 315-6440 or fax your request to her at (212) 315-6455.
The following stories appear in the January issue of the American Thoracic Society's (ATS) American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
- Withdrawing life support from terminally ill patients reportedly
more routinely accepted by physicians and patient families.
- Sleep disordered breathing found to be twice as prevalent among
African Americans than Caucasians.
WITHDRAWING LIFE SUSTAINING TREATMENT FOR TERMINALLY ILL NOW MORE COMMON IN INTENSIVE CARE UNITS
A study at intensive care units (ICU) at two hospitals indicate that withdrawing or limiting life sustaining treatment for terminally ill patients has become "de facto" standard of practice, according to researchers. Of 200 patients who died at the ICUs over a one year period, 90 percent did so following a decision that lead to withholding life support. Compared to research done five years ago, this represented a major change. Ninety percent of the families of patients accepted the decision to withdraw or limit therapy. Twenty-seven percent of patients or their families initiated the discussion on life support withdrawal. Only five percent of the families rejected physician recommendations to limit therapy. Investigators said results of the study challenge the belief that patients or their surrogates frequently refuse physician recommendations to limit life support. The study was carried in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
BLACKS APPEAR MORE PRONE TO SLEEP DISORDERS THAN WHITES
A study of 622 Caucasians and 225 African Americans, ages 2 to 86, suggested that sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is about twice as prevalent in Blacks. SDB is a recurring problem associated with complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway during sleep. The condition can lead to fragmented sleep and abnormal oxygen and carbon dioxide in the blood. Excessive daytime sleepiness and various disorders of the heart, lungs, and the nervous system can be a consequence. Sleep apnea is the most important sleep disorder in terms of mortality and morbidity, especially in middle aged men. Study participants were recruited either from families with at least one person with known sleep apnea or from neighborhood control families that didn't have a history of sleep disorders in participants over 55--39 percent in Caucasians and 44 percent in African-Americans--although the racial differences were not as great in this age category as it was with the overall population in the study. The findings were repored in the January issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
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