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About sleep apnea Oct, 26 2023
Find out what the health risks of obstructive sleep apnea are.
Uncontrolled, this condition can seriously complicate your health
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) occurs when your breathing involuntarily stops and starts while you sleep, waking you up repeatedly throughout the night and often leaving you exhausted the following day.1
While mood swings, poor concentration, and daytime fatigue are some of the immediate effects of sleep apnea, there are several serious long-term health risks that can develop when the condition has been left untreated for too long.1,2
These conditions can include:2,3,4,5,6,7,8,10,11,12
High blood pressure
High blood pressure, or hypertension, is common in people who are suffering from sleep apnea. It can lead to a heart attack, stroke, or an irregular heartbeat.
Heart disease
If left untreated, OSA can increase your risk of heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in the US.7 According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), heart disease is the biggest killer in the United States – it’s responsible for the deaths of one in four Americans.7
Numerous studies have shown a person with OSA can have an enlarged heat, which reduces the heart’s ability to pump effectively. Because sleep apnea can affect the shape of your heart and create abnormal heart rhythms, cardiac arrest is therefore a real possibility.
Stroke
Simply put, a stroke is an interruption of blood flow to the brain which prevents it from working properly – in the US there are more than 795,000 strokes every year.9 It’s second only to cardiovascular disease as the country’s leading cause of death, and it can leave those who survive a stroke with mild to severe disability. In the World Health Organization’s 2019 list of leading causes of death in the world, stroke is ranked second behind heart disease.
However, a stroke is largely preventable. If you have OSA, it’s important you get it treated as soon as possible as this condition increases your risk of suffering a stroke.
Depression
There is a higher prevalence of depression in people with OSA, compared to rates of depression in the general population.
Diabetes
When you have sleep apnea, your ability to metabolise glucose may become impaired. Therefore, sleep apnea may contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes or worsening of control over the condition.
It is important to note that sleep apnea and type 2 diabetes can coexist without one having caused the other. Obesity can be responsible for both conditions.
Managing diabetes when you have sleep apnea is far more difficult. That’s because the carbon dioxide in your blood increases when your breathing stops and starts while you sleep, and this can lead to insulin resistance.
Obesity
We know obesity increases the risk of sleep apnea. However, there is a growing body of research that shows the reverse is also true – that sleep apnea can cause weight gain. There are several reasons this can happen. First, sleep apnea can disrupt your metabolism and slow it down. And second, it can lower your energy levels during the day and reduce your amount of physical activity.
Mortality
People with OSA have nearly a twofold higher risk of sudden death and cardiovascular mortality. Treatment can reduce that risk.
So, how do you get treatment for OSA?
When you have sleep apnea, both your physical and emotional well-being can be adversely affected. But there is hope. To reduce long-term health risks, it’s important you get it diagnosed and treated by your doctor or a recognized sleep specialist as soon as possible.
There are many treatments for sleep apnea that have a high rate of success, including continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP*), which keeps oxygen flowing into your lungs while you sleep via a facemask.
1 Dempsey JA, Veasey SC, Morgan BJ, O'Donnell CP. Pathophysiology of sleep apnea. Physiological reviews. 2010 Jan;90(1):47-112.
2 Patel SR. Obstructive sleep apnea. Annals of internal medicine. 2019 Dec 3;171(11):ITC81-96.
3 Young T, Palta M, Dempsey J, Peppard PE, Nieto FJ, Hla KM. Burden of sleep apnea: rationale, design, and major findings of the Wisconsin Sleep Cohort study. WMJ: official publication of the State Medical Society of Wisconsin. 2009 Aug;108(5):246.
4 Aronsohn RS, Whitmore H, Van Cauter E, Tasali E. Impact of untreated obstructive sleep apnea on glucose control in type 2 diabetes. American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine. 2010 Mar 1;181(5):507-13.
5 Soin D, Kumar PA, Chahal J, Chawla SP, Kaur S, Garg R, Kaur R. Evaluation of obstructive sleep apnea in metabolic syndrome. Journal of Family Medicine and Primary Care. 2019 May;8(5):1580.
6 Shah N, Roux F. The relationship of obesity and obstructive sleep apnea. Clinics in chest medicine. 2009 Sep 1;30(3):455-65.
7 https://www.cdc.gov/heartdisease/facts.htm. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention. Heart disease facts. Last reviewed, 2023, May 15.
8 https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060330182037.htm American College of Cardiology. Sleep Apnea Treatment Benefits the Heart. ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 30 March 2006. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/03/060330182037.htm
9 National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention, Stroke Facts. Last reviewed, 2023, May 4.
10 World Health Organisation. The top 10 causes of death. 2020, December 9.
11 Ejaz SM, Khawaja IS, Bhatia S, Hurwitz TD. Obstructive sleep apnea and depression: a review. Innovations in clinical neuroscience. 2011 Aug 1;8(8):17.
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