Sleep apnoea kills*

It was sad to see in the news today that Star Wars actress Carrie Fisher died from sleep apnoea and “other causes” according to the Los Angeles coroner. However, her death certificate states she suffered a cardiac arrest, and in a statement the LA coroner said the exact cause was unknown.[1]

For me, as someone passionate about raising awareness of the damage sleep apnoea can do, it is especially sad to hear that sleep apnoea was involved.

But note, that even though sleep apnoea was listed as a cause of death[2], it was not marked as such on the death certificate… because * sleep apnoea doesn’t normally kill people, but it exacerbates conditions, so undiagnosed/untreated sleep apnoea sufferers will die of stroke or heart attack, for example.

My question then is does sleep apnoea not get the recognition, does it not have the level of awareness in the general public BECAUSE it is not listed as a cause of death?

Imagine if the evening news stated that there had been a 10% increase in deaths related to sleep apnoea.

Would that make you sit up and think about the quality of your sleep? Would it encourage you ask your snoring partner to go to the doctor to get tested?

I suggest it would. We don’t normally want to bring about our earlier demise, so should we be asking for more reporting of deaths with sleep apnoea as a factor in order to track this?

If you want more information on snoring and sleep apnoea, download the BMA Patient Information Award Winning Guide from Snorer.com.

Thanks, sleep well.

TSL

#snoring #sleepapnoea #sleepapnea

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[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40311159 [accessed 17 June 2017]

[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-40311159 [accessed 17 June 2017]