Richard Staats , pulmonologist at Hospital da Luz, concluded last November 11 his doctorate degree in Medicine (speciality of Pulmonology), at the Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de Lisboa (FMUL). For his thesis, that received approval with the highest grading, the physician conducted a research on the impact of obstructive sleep apnea in the body’s immunological and metabolic homeostasis, as well as the influence of environmental factors. The doctoral jury included José Melo Cristino (FMUL), Wolfram Windisch (Faculty of Medicine, Witten-Herdecke University, Germany), João Abel Almeida Cardoso (Faculty of Medical Sciences, Universidade Nova de Lisboa), Manuel Pires Bicho (FMUL), Luís Silva Graça (FMUL) and the thesis advisor, Cristina Bárbara Caetano (FMUL). The co-advisor was António Bugalho de Almeida (FMUL). The Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) is an obstructive respiratory disease that can cause severe cardiovascular diseases. Among the main conclusions of the thesis – entitled “Impact of obstructive sleep apneas on the immune and metabolic homeostasis. The influence of the environment” –, Richard Staats points out that: The decline in the cytotoxic immune system can help to explain the high prevalence of neoplasms in patients with OSAS; OSAS reverses the physiological drop of blood pressure and of the systolic volume, during the first sleep; OSAS was associated to a higher prevalence of dyslipidemia (abnormal level of lipids in the blood) in groups of patients in Europe included in the European Sleep Apnea Database (ESADA); The environmental factors, including temperature, are relevant for the geographical differences in the prevalence of OSAS and respective severity.
