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Conclusion
Obstructive sleep apnea is a health hazard and usually affects middle-aged, overweight adults. It causes not only snoring but also repeated obstruction to breathing while the person is sleeping. This leads to a drop in oxygen saturation within the blood which can damage organs such as the heart and the brain.
The condition can be diagnosed by a visit to the sleep lab, which conducts a simple test called polysomnogram. Simple advice can treat patients with mild sleep apnea; however a more advanced condition may require to use an equipment like CPAP. Treatment improves a person’s overall health by improving the quality of sleep.
Regular and ongoing follow up is needed with a sleep medicine specialist who will check whether the treatment is working and whether there are any side effects of the treatment.
See this recent publication that indicates that obstructive Sleep Apnea - Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with coronary artery disease (CAD). We hypothesized that OSA is independently related to the risk of CAD or death from any cause. In this observational cohort study, patients referred for OSA underwent polysomnography, and subsequent CAD events (myocardial infarction, coronary angiography or bypass graft surgery) or death were recorded. Patients were divided into exposure (AHI 15) and comparison groups (AHI Increased Risk of Coronary Artery Disease and Death, Shah NA et al New Haven, CT