Obstructive sleep apnea occurs when the airway collapses during sleep, cutting off breathing for short periods. This can happen lots of times per hour (between 5 and 100 – more than 30 times per hour is considered "severe"). This can lead to reduced oxygen in the blood.
What aAe the Risks of Sleep Apnea?
A large study (The Sleep Heart Health Study) has shown that obstructive sleep apnea that occurs more than 30 times per hour increases the risk of heart problems in men 40 to 70 years old by 68%. These problems included heart attacks, the need for surgery (stenting or bypasses) or death from coronary heart disease. Other studies have shown a link, but they were small and it was hard to interpret what the results meant for the general population.
Since everyone's risk for heart disease is different, based on age, lifestyle factors, heredity and fitness levels, it is impossible to tell you here what this means for your risk. If you are interested in seeing what your risk for one of these problems is, there are "risk calculators" available, such as Heart Attack Risk Assessment tool from the American Heart Association. If you use that tool and find out that your risk is 20% ("borderline high"), for instance, if you are a male between 40 and 70 with severe sleep apnea, you would multiply that number times 1.68 (20% x 1.68 = 33.6%), to find out that you now have a 33.6% risk of having a heart attack in the next 10 years (using this calculator and assuming no lifestyle changes or treatment).
Who Is at Risk?
In the study mentioned above, the problems were in men age 40 to 70 years of age. There was NOT an increased risk of heart problems in women and men older than 70 who had sleep apnea.
However, this does not mean that women or older men should ignore sleep problems or leave sleep apnea untreated.
Why Does Sleep Apnea Cause Heart Problems?
There is not one answer to this question. Sleep apnea probably contributes to heart problems many ways: it causes blood pressure to rise, reduces oxygen available to the heart, releases cortisol and elevates C-reactive protein. People with sleep apnea also usually have other health problems that contribute to heart disease, such as obesity, diabetes and metabolic syndrome. Many of these problems are interrelated, meaning that they can cause or worsen each other.
What Do I Do if I Think I Have Sleep Apnea?
People are not usually aware that they have sleep apnea, but do notice they are tired all the time. They may also notice that they have problems concentrating or have headaches in the morning. People sleeping in the same bed (or house) may complain about loud snoring – however, not everyone with sleep apnea snores.
If you think you have sleep apnea, visit your doctor to get evaluated. If you are just a little tired these days, but usually feel fine, you may want to start by trying a couple of the steps in this article to see if you may just need to adjust some things with your sleep habits or schedule: Do I Have a Sleep Disorder?
The good news is that sleep apnea CAN be diagnosed and treated. Learn more about sleep apnea: Understanding Sleep Apnea.
Sources:
Angelico F, del Ben M, Augelletti T, de Vita R, Roma R, Violi F, Fabiani M. Obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome and the metabolic syndrome in an internal medicine setting. Eur J Intern Med. 2010 Jun;21(3):191-5. Epub 2010 Mar 29.
Gottlieb DJ, Yenokyan G, Newman AB, et al. Prospective Study of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Incident Coronary Heart Disease and Heart Failure. The Sleep Heart Health Study. Circulation. 2010 Jul 12. [Epub ahead of print]
Jean-Louis G, Brown CD, Zizi F, et al. Cardiovascular disease risk reduction with sleep apnea treatment. Expert Rev Cardiovasc Ther. 2010 Jul;8(7):995-1005.
