Sleep apnea, a condition characterized by abnormal pauses in breathing during sleep, has been tied to symptomless but dangerous strokes known as “silent strokes.”WebMD and Health Day report that Dr. Jessica Kepplinger, of Dresden University Stroke Center at the University of Technology in Germany, and her colleagues studied 56 men and women who had previously suffered a stroke. Using a screening tool, the researchers monitored the study participants’ breathing patterns during sleep.
Sleep apnea has been connected to the risk of strokes in previous studies, but the researchers said hardly any studies have probed the relationship between sleep apnea and silent strokes.
"We found an overall high frequency of sleep apnea, 91 percent, in our study population of acute stroke patients, which underlines the importance of this stroke risk factor," Kepplinger said, as quoted by Health Day.
In addition, brain scans revealed that half the participants had areas of tissue death in the brain that signified silent strokes. Patients with sleep apnea were more likely to have silent strokes: having more than five episodes of sleep apnea per night was tied to having silent strokes.
Kepplinger plans to do further research on the subject. In the meantime, she recommends that all stroke patients be screened for sleep apnea, WebMD reports.
I also read that on the medical journal weekly. Anxiety deviated with sleep apnea can lead to stroke.
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