Elderly men who experience extended episodes of interrupted breathing while asleep have a high risk of heart problems. Research shows for the first time that poor blood oxygenation is a good indicator of the chance of heart-related death, which cannot be attributed to sleep apnea alone.
A team led by Associate Professor Dominik Linz and Associate Professor Mathias Baumert of the University of Adelaide’s Medical School and School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering has published their study in the European Heart Journal which examined patterns of low blood oxygenation during sleep and the relation to heart-related deaths in 2840 men aged in their 70s and early 80s.
