A News 2 report examines a recent study that examined whether people who suffer from sleep apnea were likely to develop heart problems.
The study looked at the two types of sleep apnea – obstructive and central.
Researchers followed a group of elderly men for a period of six and a half years and found that most of the men who had central sleep apnea later developed heart arrhythmia, or atrial fibrillation.
Dr. Reena Mehra, MD, MS of Cleveland Clinic was a lead investigator on the team that conducted the research.
Mehra said previous studies had looked for a relationship between obstructive sleep apnea and atrial fibrillation.
”In this study, we also sought to look at these relationships, and interestingly found that not so much obstructive sleep apnea, but rather a different kind of sleep apnea, called central sleep apnea, was associated with development of de novo atrial fibrillation,” said Dr. Mehra.
