An issue that I have with these studies is that they would be so much more informative if they compared the rate of insomnia before the mechanical valve, verses after the valve. They don’t seem to ever do this. Interestingly, the rates of insomnia for mechanical valve patients is about the same as the general population. See link below.
“Both the acute and chronic forms of insomnia are very common. Roughly, 1 in 3 adults worldwide have insomnia symptoms.”
Insomnia: What It Is, Causes, Symptoms & Treatment.
So, is it the valve causing the insomnia, or is it that patients who already have insomnia will tend to blame the valve? Again, looking at before mechanical valve and after would give more insight.
From another article discussing the same mechanical valve study:
“The Norwegian researchers surveyed 245 patients with a mechanical aortic heart valve.”
“31% of the patients had mild insomnia and 17% had moderate to severe insomnia. Awareness of valve noise was the strongest predictor of insomnia, followed by age, and being female.”
Gee, same rate of insomnia as the general population.
Also, this comment, which I find interesting and raises the brow a bit:
“A less intrusive alternative – established at Netcare Union Hospital in Alberton, Johannesburg – is the percutaneous repair of heart valves through a small puncture in the groin.”
Oh, ok. So, just get a TAVI (TAVR) procedure and all of your troubles will be resolved? An agenda perhaps?
Mechanical heart valve noise may cause sleepless nights | Life
Some may find in interesting that the lead researcher can technically use the title of “Doctor”, but she is nurse with PhD in philosophy. That brings up an ethical question in my view, as to whether a person who has a PhD in another field should use the title of doctor when publishing in a medical journal. It is not against the law, but perhaps a little misleading.
Also, interesting that she has published on issues with warfarin complications. Her description of how warfarin works is incorrect and in my view is informative about her knowledge. Her statement below:
““The goal is to thin the blood enough to prevent a stroke but not too much and cause bleeding,” said Dr Oterhals.”
Oh, and this is another interesting comment:
“When asked which of the following foods would interfere with warfarin: celery, carrot, coleslaw or green beans, just 25% correctly said coleslaw and most patients answered green beans.”
Poor patient warfarin knowledge may increase risk of deadly side effects
It seems that she has a focus in publishing on the so called “problems” with a mechanical valve. I don’t find her study design good and may be attempting to achieve a result pointing people away from mechanical, perhaps towards TAVI. It should be noted that her clinic, Haukeland University Hospital in Bergen, is one of the leading European clinics for TAVI. Just an interesting thing to be aware of, although it is certainly not proof of bias.
