Nearly 25 percent of Taiwan’s population, or about 6 million people, are suffering from sleep disorders, a potential risk to public health that has prompted the Taipei City Hospital’s Zhongxing Branch to establish a National Health Insurance (NHI)-covered sleep center.
The center was founded in March and comprises some of the hospital’s finest neurologists, pulmonologists, otolaryngologists, pediatricians and psychiatrists.
Zhongxing Branch neurologist Chen Wei-Chih (陳威志) said about 10 percent of his patients seek outpatient care due to sleep-related problems, with some having been sleep-deprived for a long time because of their partners’ snoring.
“Statistics have established a correlation between snoring, and age and gender. Approximately 20 percent of men between the ages of 30 and 35 snore, but only 5 percent of women in the same age range do,” Chen said.
“However, the figures surge to 60 and 40 percent for men and women respectively after they turn 60,” he said.
Chen said people who snore are more susceptible to developing sleep apnea, the incidence rates of which are 20 percent in women and 4 percent in men, according to a US study.
People who are obese or have a short neck also face a higher risk of having sleep apnea, as they are more prone to suffer obstruction of the airways, Chen added.
“A person with sleep apnea can stop breathing for 10 seconds or longer. I once treated a patient who experienced up to 105 pauses in breathing per hour of sleep, with the longest one lasting nearly 1 minute,” Chen said. “That meant he was not breathing for about 20 minutes per hour.”
People who snore frequently and suffer interrupted sleep for more than a year are advised to seek medical attention, Chen said.
“Sleep apnea is a silent killer that could lead to high blood pressure, heart attacks and even cerebral strokes,” he said.
‘LONE WOLF’: The suspect was difficult to locate, as he did not use a cellphone, did not contact family and often lived in abandoned sites or parks, police said Taipei police on Thursday morning arrested a man accused of numerous burglaries and at least 14 incidents of sexual assault spanning more than 20 years, in what might be the nation’s most notorious crime spree in recent years. Sixty-year-old Tu Ming-lang (涂明朗) — who was yesterday placed in judicial detention, after a judge determined he was a flight risk without a fixed address — faces multiple charges of sexual assault and burglary, police said. A task force comprised of various law enforcement agencies arrested Tu as part of an investigation into an April 28 burglary in Daan District (大安), in which a
Ninth graders were asked to define “trolling” on this year’s standardized exam, reflecting efforts to make the test better reflect real-life situations. Adjustments to this year’s Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students were revealed on Sunday, after the last cohort of students completed the test over the weekend. The Ministry of Education solicited feedback about the test from teachers, who approved of the new question in the English portion. Not only was question No. 20 “very much in line with real-life situations,” but it also used a new style in which students were asked to ascertain the correct dictionary definition based
Taiwan is on alert for monkeypox, a rare viral disease that has caused 87 infections in 11 countries over the past three weeks, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said on Saturday. The WHO on Friday convened an emergency session to discuss a sudden outbreak of monkeypox in North America and Europe. Since the beginning of this month, 87 confirmed cases and 28 possible cases have been identified in 11 countries. The countries with the highest case counts are England with 29 cases, and Portugal and Spain with 23 each. Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease occurring primarily in the tropical rainforest areas
Three human skeletons and artifacts believed to be about 400 years old were unearthed by construction workers at National Ilan University in Yilan County, the university said yesterday. The discoveries were made on May 10 as workers were digging to expand the College of Electronic Engineering and Computer Science’s facilities, the university said in a statement. The skeletons were found at three sites, along with glass beads, copper bells and rings, discs and a fish-shaped metal knot, it said. The find is likely connected to the “Old Baili Village” (擺厘舊社, Bai Li Jiu She), an as-yet-undiscovered Kavalan settlement that has been mentioned in
RSS