Jakarta, CNBC Indonesia – uric acid or gout is one of the complaints that many people experience. According to data, this condition occurs in more than 8 million adults every year.
Men are more at high risk of gout than women. Not only that, research also states that the risk of these complaints can also increase if someone has sleep disorders sleep apneawhich is a condition when there is a short pause of breath during sleep.
In general, uric acid dissolves in the blood and passes through the filtering process in the kidneys to be excreted in the urine. However, the body sometimes produces excess uric acid or experiences obstacles in removing the substance so that a buildup occurs.
As a result, a sudden recurrence of uric acid causes severe pain, inflammation, swelling and redness.
The joint in the big toe is the body part most often involved. Even so, gout can actually occur in all joints in the body, including the ankles, knees, hands, and wrists.
The relationship between sleep disturbances and gout
In the study, published in Arthritis and Rheumatology, researchers combed through records in a UK health database to compare people with and without sleep disorders. sleep apnea. They voted for a total of 9,865 people sleep apnea (mean age 54) and matched them to a control group of 43,958 people without the disorder.
After one year, about 50% of people with sleep apnea more likely to experience gout attacks compared to the control group.
The exact nature of the relationship between gout And sleep apnea unknown, but there are two possibilities and they are related. First, the two conditions share the same risk factors as being overweight.
“Although it’s not clear how being overweight is related to gout, many people who suffer from this condition tend to be overweight,” says Dr. Robert Shmerling clinical chief of rheumatology at Harvard-affiliated Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
Furthermore, another theory that may be related is factor hypoxia, a condition that can arise as a complication of sleep apneawhere oxygen levels in the body decrease during sleep.
According to Dr. Robert Shmerling this can cause cell and tissue damage, which then increases uric acid levels in the body.
Even if you don’t suffer sleep apnea, the risk of gout attacks increases at night. Gout attacks are twice as likely to strike at night or early in the morning. The main reason is believed to be lower body temperature and dehydration that occurs when you sleep.
“Crystals are more likely to crystallize at lower temperatures, and dehydration can prevent excess uric acid from being excreted from the body,” says Dr. Robert Shmerling.
[Gambas:Video CNBC]
Next Article
10 Natural ‘Medicines’ That Can Make Gout Cure
(hsy/hsy)