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Sleep apnea, characterized by repeated interrupted breathing during sleep does not constitute a mortality risk factor among the elderly.  This finding was discovered in study conducted at the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine and presented last week at the 19^th Annual Congress of the European Sleep Research Society.

Sleep apnea syndrome affects 10% of men and 5% of women, and constitutes a significant risk for cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.  In many studies, some of which from the Technion, it was found that patients with sleep apnea are at a higher risk for mortality, particularly if they are overweight.

Sleep apnea is more prevalent among the elderly than among the young and middle-aged, although the medical implications among the elderly are still not well known.

Surprising findings reported by Professor Peretz Lavie of the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine at the 19^th Annual Congress of the European Sleep Research Society held in Glasgow, Scotland, showed that as opposed to the young and middle-aged, sleep apnea is not a mortality risk factor among the elderly.  Moreover, death among the elderly who suffer from moderate sleep apnea was significantly lower than among their counterparts in the general population.  In the research, conducted in the Lloyd Rigler Laboratory for Sleep Apnea Research at the Technion’s Faculty of Medicine, mortality rates were examined among elderly who had been diagnosed with sleep apnea.  These rates were compared to the mortality among the elderly in the general population according to age, sex, and ethnic origin.  56 of the 611 elderly with sleep apnea died during the course of the 4 ½ year follow up period.  This death rate was lower than the rate in the general population.  When mortality rates of elderly with light or no sleep apnea, moderate, and severe sleep apnea were compared with the general population, it was discovered that those suffering from moderate sleep apnea had a significantly lower mortality rate.  In this group, surprisingly the mortality rate was only one-third of that of the general population.

The mortality rates of those in the light/no sleep apnea and severe categories were similar to those in the general population.

Researchers Prof. Peretz Lavie and Dr. Lena Lavie: “The survival advantage of those elderly who suffer from a moderate level of sleep apnea, together with new findings in the scientific literature of the adaptive influences of intermittent hypoxia (lack of oxygen) in various clinical models, strengthens our hypothesis that sleep apnea activates defense mechanisms among the elderly that provides them with survival advantage”.

 In 2008 – Technion Ranked 29th in World in Engineering and 31st in Natural Sciences: Rose 122 Places in Overall Ranking to 109th Place in the Prestigious World Ranking of Universities by the London Times Higher Education Supplement

 The Technion ranked 29th on the list of the best technological-engineering universities in the world and 31st among leading universities in the natural sciences. This is a rise of five places in the natural sciences and a fall of four in engineering. In overall ranking, the Technion took 109th place in the world, a dramatic rise of 122 places compared to last year. There are thousands of universities in the world dealing with these fields. The world ranking was carried out by the London Times Higher Education Supplement, which analyzes the standing of institutions of higher education in the world.

 In the Times ranking, the Technion outranks in engineering a number of well-known universities, among them most of the European and American universities including Purdue (33rd place) Yale (58th place in engineering and 2nd place overall), Ecole Polytechnique in France (31st in engineering), etc. The list of the best universities in the world in engineering is topped by American universities – Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Berkeley, Stanford and California Institute of Technology (Caltech). In the natural sciences, the Technion is ahead of Johns Hopkins University (45th place in engineering and 13th overall), New York University (53rd place), all the German universities, including the prestigious Heidelberg University and Munich University, the Dutch universities, the Italian universities, etc.

 This is the fifth year that the London Times has conducted a world ranking of universities. The criteria according to the Times for determining a university’s ranking are: ranking by academics from other universities (40%), ranking by employers of graduates (10%), faculty-student ratio (20%), number of research publications (20%), number of foreign lecturers (5%) and number of foreign students (5%).

 Technion President, Prof. Yitzhak Apeloig, expressed his great satisfaction with the high ranking of the Technion among the best technological-engineering-science universities in the world and with its dramatic rise in overall ranking. “We have attained this standing despite sharp cuts in government funding to the Technion in particular and to higher education in general,” he said. “The ranking expresses the great esteem to which the Technion is held by other universities around the world, recognition by employers of the high level of Technion graduates employed by them and our high level of research. Thanks to our Technion Friends around the world and recently also due to the help of our Technion graduates and Friends in Israel, who in the last few years have generously contributed to the Technion, we have succeeded in recruiting talented and promising young faculty members, establishing the Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute and the Zisapel Nanoelectronics Center, as well as the Lorry I. Lokey Interdisciplinary Center for Life Sciences and Engineering and launching other large research programs. All these have made a significant contribution to raising the Technion’s world ranking.”

 The President warned that if there is no immediate change in government policy with respect to higher education, the Technion will be in danger of falling off the list of leading universities in the future. “This will have serious repercussions on Israel’s economy in general and on the technological sector in particular,” he said. “I hope that the government will understand that the Israel’s future depends on higher education and will implement the recommendations of the Shochat Committee, will return to the Technion and the higher education system the monies cut  in recent years and will put education at the top of national priorities. If this happens,” added Prof. Apeloig, “the Technion’s excellent faculty members and students have the talent and ability to put the Technion in the top ten of the leading technological universities in the world.”