According to a new study, people with severe sleep apnea stand a three time’s greater risk of dying prematurely and the risk increase if the disorder is not treated.  Sleep apnea is an interrupted nighttime breathing disorder, which is often accompanied by snoring and causes frequent pauses in breathing patterns during sleep. Six percent adults in the U.S. suffer from moderate to severe forms of sleep apnea while 17% suffer from less severe sleep apnea.

Earlier studies have shown an increased death risk for sleep apnea patients but these studies were conducted at sleep centers and not in the general community like the present study.

Researcher Nathaniel Marshall, a postdoctoral fellow at the Woolcock Institute of Medical Research in Sydney, said, "This is the first study to demonstrate an independent association between all-cause mortality and sleep apnea in a community-based study."
In an American Academy of Sleep Medicine news release, Marshall said, "The size of the increased mortality risk was surprisingly large. In our particular study, a six fold increase means that having significant sleep apnea at age 40 gives you about the same mortality risk as somebody aged 57 who doesn't have sleep apnea.”

The study found that people who used proper treatments for sleep apnea benefited and reduced their risk.  Proper treatment of sleep apnea includes the use of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to keep airways open during sleep and prevent pauses in breathing. The risk of death was 3.8 times greater for those with untreated sleep apnea.

Researcher Terry Young, PhD, professor of epidemiology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in a news release, "I was surprised by how much the risks increased when we excluded people who reported treatment with CPAP. Our findings suggest -- but cannot prove -- that people diagnosed with sleep apnea should be treated, and if CPAP is the prescribed treatment, regular use may prevent premature death."

The study found the link between sleep apnea and heart-related death to be especially strong.  42% of the deaths in people with severe sleep apnea were due to heart disease, and the risk of heart-related death became five times higher among those with untreated severe sleep apnea as compared to those without sleep apnea.

Dr. David M. Claman, director of the Sleep Disorders Center at the University of California, San Francisco, feels the link between severe obstructive sleep apnea and cardiovascular illness and death do become stronger. "This Australian data has additional strengths in that it is a population-based prospective sample with a long period of follow-up," Claman said. "Further work is needed to see if mild obstructive sleep apnea is associated with adverse effects and if Continuous Positive Airway Pressure treatment reduces cardiovascular risk in larger populations," he added.

"Our findings ... remove any reasonable doubt that sleep apnea is a fatal disease. People who have, or suspect that they have, sleep apnea should consult their physicians about diagnosis and treatment options,” Marshall said.