A new study warns that sleep apnea, a condition in which breathing stops and resumes during sleep, is a risk factor for heart health in young adults.
Researchers recently reported in the Journal of the American Heart Association that the association between sleep apnea and heart disease risk factors is greater in people between the ages of 20 and 40.
For example, young people with sleep apnea have a 45 percent higher risk of developing high blood pressure, compared with a 10 percent higher risk in older people, experts said.
Similarly, sleep apnea showed a 33 percent increased risk of diabetes in young adults, compared to a 12 percent increase in middle-aged and older adults, and a 7 percent and 25 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome, respectively.
The results also found that young adults with sleep apnea were three times more likely to have a heart attack.
