Sunil Sharma, MD
Many patients who are admitted to the hospital with acute heart failure (HF) have previously undiagnosed sleep-disordered breathing (SDB), according to a new study. And even when the breathing problems are detected during their hospital stay, the patients often are still given opioids, despite their potential for causing respiratory depression and other effects that can exacerbate SDB.
The study underscored the potential dangers of such opioid use. The investigators found that