A new study conducted by Umea University Hospital in Sweden concludes that sleep apnea is a risk factor for early death in people that have had a stroke.
A research team, led by Dr. Karl A Franklin, studied the long term survival of 132 stroke patients that were admitted for in-patient hospital stroke rehabilitation between 1995 and 1997. All of the study’s subjects had sleep apnea studies performed approximately 3 weeks after their stroke and were followed for an average of and additional 10 years.
The researchers found that 88% of the study’s subjects died during the follow up period. This included 100% of those patients that had obstructive sleep apnea (breathing blocked by collapsing airway tissues) and 96% of those with central sleep apnea (interruption of respiration controlled by the brain). 81% of the patients that did not have a diagnosis of sleep apnea also died during the follow up period.
The mortality rates of obstructive sleep apnea patients were 76% higher than those without apnea.
Said Dr. Franklin: “Sleep apnea occurs frequently among patients with stroke, but it is still unknown whether a diagnosis of sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for mortality.”
The results of the study were published in the Archives of Internal Medicine.
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