Research points to links between obstructive sleep apnea and COVID-19.
Recent research has confirmed an association between OSA – a disorder in which a person’s upper airway intermittently closes during sleep and hinders their breathing – and severe illness from COVID-19. A study published earlier this fall concluded that patients with OSA were eight times more likely to be infected with COVID-19 than others of similar age who’d received care from a Chicago-area health system.
The condition also was associated with increased risk of hospitalization and twice the risk of respiratory failure. Another recent study analyzed data on more than 4,500 patients with COVID-19 and found that those with sleep apnea had an increased rate of all-cause mortality.
