In a CNN.com article, Drs Ilene Rosen, Richard Schwab, and Lee Surkin all emphasize that diagnosis and treatment of sleep apnea is crucial to ensuring heart health.
“There’s data on increased mortality, but again, it’s about 15 years after you are diagnosed with sleep apnea. And you usually die from the consequences because you develop hypertension, coronary heart disease or congestive heart failure,” said Dr. Richard Schwab, an expert in obstructive sleep apnea also at the University of Pennsylvania. “But of all the years that I’ve taken care of patients, it’s very uncommon. Most patients don’t get in trouble with their sleep apnea unless it’s very severe.”
