Add one more malady to the potential risks from untreated sleep apnea: Parkinson's disease.
A new study involving 11 million U.S. veterans finds that a person's odds of developing Parkinson's nearly doubled if they were diagnosed with sleep apnea but hadn't used a continuous positive airway pressure device to help control it.
Having untreated sleep apnea isn't "a guarantee that you're going to get Parkinson's, but it significantly increases the chances," said study co-author Dr. Gregory Scott. He's assistant professor of pathology at Oregon Health & Science University and a pathologist at the Veterans Affairs Portland.
The research was published Monday in JAMA Neurology.
Information supplied by the researchers indicates about one million Americans are currently diagnosed with Parkinson's, an incurable neurodegenerative illness characterized by increasing disability.
