Apr. 10, 2010 Obstructive sleep apnea is associated with an
increased risk of stroke in middle-aged and older adults,
especially men, according to new results from a landmark study
supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
(NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health. Overall, sleep
apnea more than doubles the risk of stroke in men. Obstructive
sleep apnea is a common disorder in which the upper airway is
intermittently narrowed or blocked, disrupting sleep and
breathing during sleep. Researchers from the Sleep Heart Health
Study (SHHS) report that the risk of stroke appears in men with
mild sleep apnea and rises with the severity of sleep apnea. Men
with moderate to severe sleep apnea were nearly three times more
likely to have a stroke than men without sleep apnea or with
mild sleep apnea. The risk from sleep apnea is independent of
other risk factors such as weight, high blood pressure, race,
smoking, and diabetes. They also report for the first time a
link between sleep apnea and increase