"Obstructive Sleep Apnea as a Risk Factor for Stroke and Death," and an accompanying editorial, "Sleep – A New Cardiovascular Frontier," by NHLBI grantee Virend K. Somers, M.D., Ph.D., will be published in the November 10 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
Carl E. Hunt, M.D., director of the NHLBI's National Center on Sleep Disorders Research, is available to comment on the study's findings and to discuss the signs and symptoms of obstructive sleep apnea, and the importance of diagnosing and treating the sleep-related breathing disorder. Untreated obstructive sleep apnea has been shown to increase the chance of cardiovascular disease and associated risk factors – including high blood pressure, heart attack, stroke, and diabetes -- as well as injuries or deaths from work-related accidents and vehicular crashes. NHLBI is currently supporting several large studies which follow participants over longer periods of time to confirm the longitudinal relationship between sleep apnea and stroke and associated risk factors.
For more information about sleep apnea, visit the NHLBI Web site at http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/dci/Diseases/SleepApnea/SleepApnea_WhatIs.html
NCSDR is administered by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the Federal Government's primary agency for biomedical and behavioral research. NHLBI press releases and fact sheets, including information on sleep apnea, can be found online at www.nhlbi.nih.gov .
New England Journal of Medicine