Obstructive sleep apnea's damage evident after 1 month

Monday, April 23, 2012 - 18:11 in Health & Medicine

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a disorder in which there are recurring episodes of upper airway collapse during sleep with ongoing effort to breathe. OSA is estimated to affect 1 in 5 adults in America. The serious nature of the problem was captured in a landmark study which found that middle-age and older men with even mild levels of OSA were in danger of increased risk of stroke and death. While a link between OSA and stroke is clear, OSA's effect on the cerebral (brain) vessels is not. In an effort to shed light on this relationship, researchers in Texas have developed a novel model that mimics OSA in humans. Their model has found that after just 30 days of OSA exposure cerebral vessel function is altered, which could lead to stroke.

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