Risks of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea can put you at risk for some very serious side effects; potentially life threatening! Besides the heart and blood pressure complications that it can cause, there can be psychological and physical risks.

Depression, hallucinations and other psychotic disorders are often seen in the sleep apnea sufferer, as well as . This could be a problem if the person were driving while having a hallucination of an animal crossing in front of them. They then might swerve to miss the "animal" and cause an accident. Suicide, self-inflicted injury and potential injury to others, is always a possibility with depression and psychotic conditions.

Mental confusion is often a risk of sleep apnea. This could be demonstrated by this scenario: Let's say they have taken a trip to a shopping mall with their child, and then "forgot" that their child came with them. You can easily see how this could be a serious situation.

Fatigue is also a great concern. Sleep apnea has been tied to automobile accidents. Researchers from Spain and the US compared 60 people with sleep apnea to 61 people of a similar age and gender who did not have the disorder. A third (33%) of patients with SAS (sleep apnea symptoms) had at least one automobile accident in the past 3 years, compared with 18% of those without SAS -- a statistically significant difference.