Undiagnosed OSA: what you need to know
Around one in ten Australians live with obstructive sleep apnoea that has never been diagnosed. This fact sheet sets out what OSA does to the body while it goes untreated – and what treating it can change.
Check your symptoms in 2 minutesAustralians suffer from undiagnosed obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).1
OSA repeatedly interrupts your breathing while you sleep. Each pause lowers the oxygen in your blood and pulls you out of deep, restorative sleep – and because it all happens while you are asleep, most people have no idea it is happening. Sustained over years, that pattern raises the risk of the conditions below.
What undiagnosed OSA puts at risk
Untreated OSA is not only a sleep problem. These are the risks the evidence links it to, and the mechanism behind each one.
Stroke
OSA increases the risk of stroke by 60%.2 Repetitive pauses in breathing reduce blood oxygen levels and raise blood pressure, both of which add to that risk.3
Depression
Up to 63% of OSA patients have been shown to suffer from depression.9 Sleep interruptions interfere with deep, restorative sleep, which can weaken emotional resilience.4
Heart disease
International guidelines now recognise OSA as one of the most common risk factors for resistant hypertension.5 When breathing stops, the sympathetic nervous system is activated and blood pressure rises.8
Diabetes
Moderate to severe OSA can increase the risk of developing diabetes by up to 63%.6 Reduced blood oxygen impairs insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance, leading to insulin resistance.10
Obesity
Adults sleeping less than five hours a night show up to a 40% higher risk of developing obesity than those sleeping seven to eight.11 Sleep apnoea makes the hormones that manage hunger fluctuate, so you feel hungrier than normal.7
The benefits of treating obstructive sleep apnoea
OSA is one of the more treatable conditions on this list. Positive Airway Pressure (PAP) therapy holds the airway open through the night, and these are the changes most often reported once OSA is managed.14
- Can improve alertness and prevent motor vehicle accidents
- Potential weight loss
- Can potentially lower medical expenses
- Can improve emotional stability
- Can improve concentration
Always seek the guidance of your doctor or healthcare professional with regards to your health or medical condition.
- BMC Public Health. 2016; 16(Suppl 3): 51–61.
- J Clin Sleep Med. 2008 Jun 15; 4(3): 261–272.
- Obstructive sleep apnoea and cardiovascular disease. Int J Mol Sci, 2019.
- Depression and sleep: understanding the connection. Johns Hopkins Medicine.
- JAMA. 2013;310(22):2407–2415.
- Diabetes Spectrum. Feb 2016, 29(1) 14–19.
- Does sleep apnea cause weight gain? WebMD.
- How sleep apnea affects blood pressure. Sleep Foundation.
- Obstructive sleep apnoea and depression. Neuropsychiatr Dis Treat, 2015.
- Obstructive sleep apnoea and type 2 diabetes. European Respiratory Journal, 2017;49(4):1700179.
- BMJ Open Sport & Exercise Medicine. 2018;4:e000392.
- Occupational and Environmental Medicine. 2000;57:649–655.
- Sleep. 2000 May 1;23(3):383–9.
- CPAP. American Academy of Sleep Medicine, sleepeducation.org.
Could this be you?
Undiagnosed OSA is common precisely because it is hard to spot in yourself. Our screening questionnaire takes about two minutes, scores your risk and tells you whether a sleep study is the right next step.