Sleep Apnea Raises Stroke Risk

According to a research study published in Stroke, stopping breathing while sleeping, a condition known as sleep apnea, may increase the risk of developing a stroke. A six-year study examining the relationship between sleep apnea and stroke in the elderly, followed nearly 400 people who were known to be free of stroke at the start of the study. The participants were patients enrolled in a Spanish population-based Sleep Project conducted to evaluate the incidence of sleep apnea. A survey was completed at the beginning of the study to gather information on know risk factors for strokes, such as age, smoking history, blood pressure, blood cholesterol levels, and the presence of diabetes, and atrial fibrillation. The sleep study also assessed the patients? breathing patterns including respiration, tracheal sounds and chest and abdominal sounds during the night. The study used the apnea-hypopnea index to classify the magnitude of sleep apnea. During the study, 20 strokes occurred. After adjusting for potentially confounding factors, researchers found that patients with severe sleep apnea were 2.5 times more likely to develop a stroke, when compared to those without apnea. The findings of the study are significant because advancing age increases the risk of a stroke. Currently 75 percent of strokes occur in the elderly population, and with the percentage of the population over the age of 70 increasing, this number will continue to rise.