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Updated: Mar 9, 2026

Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy DISE with Target Controlled Infusion TCI and Bispectral Analysis in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Published on: December 6, 2016
Can drugs induce or aggravate sleep apneas? A case-noncase study in VigiBase® , the WHO pharmacovigilance database
Mélanie Linselle1, Agnès Sommet1, Emmanuelle Bondon-Guitton1
1Service de Pharmacologie Médicale et Clinique, Faculté de Médecine de Toulouse, Centre Midi-Pyrénées de PharmacoVigilance, de Pharmacoépidémiologie et d'Informations sur le Médicament, Pharmacopôle Midi-Pyrénées, Equipe de Pharmacoépidémiologie de l'INSERM UMR 1027, CIC INSERM 1436, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire, Toulouse, France.
Abstract:
The potential favorizing role of drugs in sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) is unknown. This study investigates drugs associated with SAS in a pharmacovigilance database. SAS recorded as adverse drug reactions (ADRs) in VigiBase® , the WHO pharmacovigilance database (more than 11 million reports), from 1978 to 2015 was selected. The risk of SAS reports was estimated using the case-noncase method, with cases being SAS and noncases all other recorded ADRs. During this 37-year period, 3325 ADRs including the word SAS were registered (0.05% of the database). Mean age was 51.2 ± 16.9 years with 52% men. ADRs were 'serious' in around 82% of cases. The case-noncase study found an association between SAS and exposition with sodium oxybate, rofecoxib, quetiapine, and clozapine for individual drugs and coxibs, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and opium alkaloids for drug classes. The potential role of other drugs is discussed. This study suggests that SAS can be associated with some drugs (mainly psychotropics) that are able to reveal or aggravate such a disease. Physicians should take into account the role of drugs in the etiological appraisal and management of SAS.
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