According to research presented by researchers at the School of Medicine and the University of Navarra Hospital, people with serious sleep apnea are more than twice as likely to suffer an ischemic stroke than non-sleep apnea sufferers. The study is based on observations of 394 subjects over the age of 70 for six years. At the end of the study, 20 of the subjects had suffered a stroke.
An ischemic stroke--the most common form of stroke--is caused by an obstruction in the blood vessels, such as a blood clot or plaque that breaks off from a thicker blood vessel. This reinforces the results of another study showing that sleep apnea contributes to the prevalence of coronary artery disease and that sleep apnea sufferers are more likely to have soft arterial plaques that have a greater tendency to break off and cause blood vessel obstructions, including acute cardiac events and strokes.
This research again affirms the need for effective sleep apnea treatment. If you have been diagnosed with sleep apnea, your life is in danger, and every day you go untreated, this danger increases. To learn more about all sleep apnea treatment alternatives, please contact a local sleep dentist today.