Complications of obstructive sleep apnea

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) can lead to complications over time, such as:

• Low blood oxygen levels during sleep. Low blood oxygen levels as well as other factors such as fragmented sleep may lead to high blood pressure in the lungs (pulmonary hypertension) and in the rest of the body (hypertension).¹ Nearly 50% of people who have sleep apnea have high blood pressure.²
• Heart failure. Changes in the body caused by sleep apnea appear to increase the risk of heart failure.¹ Studies show that about 10% to 15% of people who have sleep apnea develop pulmonary hypertension, which may lead to right-sided heart failure.³
• Irregular heart rhythms (arrhythmias) or heart failure, which may cause sudden death.
• Coronary artery disease (CAD).
• A greater-than-normal number of red blood cells, which may cause the blood to thicken.
• Death caused by blood vessel disease that affects the brain or heart (stroke or heart attack).
• Failure to resume breathing (respiratory failure) and sudden death, especially in the early morning (very rare).

Sleep apnea can cause some of these conditions to progress more quickly and be more difficult to treat. Treating sleep apnea may help make some of these conditions less severe.

People with sleep apnea also may be more likely to get in a car accident due to sleepiness while driving.⁴

References

Citations

1. Wolf J, et al. (2007). Obstructive sleep apnea: An update on mechanisms and cardiovascular consequences. Nutrition, Metabolism and Cardiovascular Diseases, 17(3): 233–240.

2. Guilleminault C, Abad VC (2004). Obstructive sleep apnea syndromes. Medical Clinics of North America, 88(3): 611–630.

3. Bradley TD, Phillipson EA (2005). Sleep disorders. In RJ Mason et al., eds., Murray and Nadel's Textbook of Respiratory Medicine, 4th ed., vol. 2, pp. 2091–2109. Philadelphia: Elsevier Saunders.

4. George CFP (2004). Sleep 5: Driving and automobile crashes in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome. Thorax, 59(9): 804–807.

Credits

By	Healthwise Staff
Primary Medical Reviewer	E. Gregory Thompson, MD - Internal Medicine
Specialist Medical Reviewer	Mark A. Rasmus, MD - Pulmonology, Critical Care Medicine, Sleep Medicine
Last Revised	July 9, 2009