New Link Between Sleep Apnea And Parkinson's

  

A new study reported by The New York Times in Sleep Apnea Linked to Parkinson’s Disease, New Study Finds found that people with untreated Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) face a much higher chance of later developing Parkinson's Disease (PD). Researchers reviewed over 11 million U.S. veterans’ health records and found that individuals with OSA, after about six years, were nearly twice as likely to be diagnosed with Parkinson’s compared with those without OSA, even after accounting for factors like age, obesity, and high blood pressure.  Study links obstructive sleep apnea to Parkinson's disease by The Washington Post  shows that patients were not helpless to their statistics as they found OSA patients who started treatment early with a CPAP machine largely decreased their risk for Parkinson’s. This does not prove OSA causes Parkinson’s but suggests that disrupted breathing, oxygen deprivation, and poor sleep might contribute to long-term brain vulnerability. 

Image from The Washington Post

This emphasizes how something we often dismiss as “just sleep issues” may actually have long term implications for brain health. If untreated sleep apnea significantly increases the odds of developing Parkinson’s, it adds another compelling reason to take sleep disorders seriously especially since OSA is fairly common and treatable. The fact that early CPAP treatment seems to offer a protective effect is hopeful, because it points toward a way people might reduce their risk. The research could have expanded their study as it relied on veteran’s health record and couldn’t verify how often or well CPAP was used. So, while this is important work and a wake-up call about the value of good sleep, more research, especially in more diverse populations, is needed before drawing definitive conclusions.