Sleep issue ups death risk

Obstructive sleep apnea, a disorder that repeatedly blocks breathing during sleep, was linked to a 71% higher risk of heart problems or death in research due at a May 2026 obesity meeting in Istanbul. (eurekalert.org) Researchers said they analyzed electronic health records from 2.9 million residents and matched 20,300 adults diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea with 97,412 adults without the condition. (medicalxpress.com) The study found 57.2% of the people with sleep apnea were living with obesity, compared with 56.7% of the matched comparison group, and co-author Heather Fitzke said the higher risk remained after adjusting for other factors. (medicalxpress.com) Sleep apnea happens when the upper airway narrows or closes during sleep, cutting off airflow again and again, which can leave people snoring loudly, waking often, and feeling exhausted during the day. (msn.com) Doctors have long linked the condition to obesity because extra tissue around the neck and airway can make nighttime blockage more likely; the researchers said 40% to 70% of people with obstructive sleep apnea are overweight or obese. (ndtv.com) The findings are scheduled for presentation at the 33rd European Congress on Obesity, which the European Association for the Study of Obesity says will run from May 12 to May 15, 2026, in Istanbul, Turkey. (easo.org) Because the results were released ahead of the conference, they should be treated as meeting research rather than a full peer-reviewed paper until the underlying study is published in a journal. (eurekalert.org) The researchers said the takeaway is early diagnosis: a common sleep disorder that many people dismiss as snoring was tied, in this dataset, to substantially higher odds of cardiovascular events or death. (knowridge.com)