According to research presented at the American College of Cardiology annual conference in Washington, D.C., clinicians might want to wait to administer sleep apnea tests to patients who have recently suffered heart attacks.
A total of 52 percent of patients tested positive for sleep apnea in the initial test. Forty-two percent had obstructive sleep apnea, the most common form of the disorder, in which the airway is blocked for brief periods by the tongue or throat muscles. Ten percent had central sleep apnea, a less common form in which the brain fails to properly signal the muscles that control breathing.
