A new study conducted by a team of University of Wisconsin researchers shows that people suffering from severe sleep apnea have three times the risk of dying due to any cause compared to people without the disorder.
Sleep apnea is a condition with repeated episodes of breathing pauses during sleep despite an ongoing effort to breathe. Apnea often occurs when muscles in the back of throat relax, causing soft tissue to collapse and temporarily block the air passage.
The study, published in the Aug. 1 issue of Sleep, was led by Dr. Terry Young, professor of epidemiology at UW-Madison’s School of Medicine and Public Health.