News & Announcements

Moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with an increased risk of death from any cause in middle-aged adults, especially men, according to new results from a landmark study supported by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).  The new findings provide the strongest evidence to date of a link between increased risk of death and sleep apnea, a common disorder in which the upper airway is intermittently narrowed during sleep, causing breathing to be difficult or completely blocked.

"Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study" is published in the August 18 issue of the open-access journal PLoS Medicine. One of the principal investigators on this study is Stuart F. Quan, MD, a Visiting Professor of Medicine here at Harvard Medical School.

Read the NHLBI press release here:
http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/new/press/apr11-00.htm