Sleep Apnea and Heart Disease

Heart disease (HD) is killing almost 600,000 people annually. This life threatening phenomenon is more common in men than in women and is the leading cause of death for both genders (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). Heart disease represents a number of problems with the heart (some of which can be linked to heart failure (HF)). Research is now finding a strong correlation between sleep HD, HF and sleep apnea (SA). It is important to understand that HF and HD can lead to serious issues such as heart attacks and even death. Therefore, there are potentially a great deal of heart problems strongly linked to SA. The most serious of the issues associated with SA is a myocardial infarction. This paper will explore the relationship between SA and multiple forms of HD