VoyForums
[ Show ]
Support VoyForums
[ Shrink ]
VoyForums Announcement: Programming and providing support for this service has been a labor of love since 1997. We are one of the few services online who values our users' privacy, and have never sold your information. We have even fought hard to defend your privacy in legal cases; however, we've done it with almost no financial support -- paying out of pocket to continue providing the service. Due to the issues imposed on us by advertisers, we also stopped hosting most ads on the forums many years ago. We hope you appreciate our efforts.

Show your support by donating any amount. (Note: We are still technically a for-profit company, so your contribution is not tax-deductible.) PayPal Acct: Feedback:

Donate to VoyForums (PayPal):

[ Login ] [ Contact Forum Admin ] [ Main index ] [ Post a new message ] [ Search | Check update time | Archives: 1, 2, [3] ]

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Date Posted: 04:47:32 04/30/04 Fri
Author: J.R.Smith,c.f.t.,s.p.n.,s.s.c. -ISSA
Subject: stuffy nose and high blood pressure?

Chronic Stuffy Nose Tied to High Blood Pressure

Reuters Health

Friday, February 14, 2003


NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Men who have chronic nasal congestion may be more likely to develop high blood pressure than others, according to a study released Friday.

The study of 316 men and women found that men with chronic rhinitis were between two and three times more likely than men without the problem to have high blood pressure. The same was not true of women.

Chronic rhinitis is marked by an itchy, stuffy, runny nose and sneezing. It's often caused by seasonal allergies (commonly called hay fever), but can also arise from other problems such as structural abnormalities in the nose.

Exactly why rhinitis might be linked to high blood pressure is unclear, according to the study authors, led by Sabine Kony of the French medical-research institute INSERM in Paris.

However, they note that rhinitis has been tied to obstructive sleep apnea, a condition in which upper-airway obstruction makes a person briefly, and repeatedly, stop breathing during sleep. Sleep apnea, in turn, has been linked to high blood pressure.

Whatever the reason for their findings, the researchers conclude, men with chronic rhinitis "should have regular blood pressure checks."

They report the findings in the February issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Among the study participants, who ranged in age from 28 to 56, 38% of men and 44% of women had rhinitis. Some had seasonal rhinitis, while others had year-long symptoms.

Among men, rhinitis sufferers had a higher average systolic blood pressure--the top number in a blood-pressure reading. And 36% had high blood pressure, compared with 16% of men without rhinitis. Those with year-long rhinitis had a slightly higher rate of high blood pressure than those with seasonal symptoms.

The researchers speculate that women did not show this relationship, in part, because they are protected from cardiovascular disease before menopause. They add that premenopausal women are also less likely to develop obstructive sleep apnea.

SOURCE: American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 2003.

[ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]
[ Contact Forum Admin ]

Forum timezone: GMT-8
VF Version: 3.00b, ConfDB:
Before posting please read our privacy policy.
VoyForums(tm) is a Free Service from Voyager Info-Systems.
Copyright © 1998-2019 Voyager Info-Systems. All Rights Reserved.