Research

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Severe sleep-disordered breathing (AHI ≥30 events/h) is independently associated with increased all-cause and coronary artery disease mortality in men aged 40–70, mediated by intermittent hypoxemia rather than sleep fragmentation.

If you are a man between 40 and 70, getting tested for severe sleep apnea (AHI ≥30) is critical for longevity. The risk of death from heart disease and other causes doubles in this group, driven by low oxygen levels during sleep, not just poor sleep quality. Women and older men (>70) do not show the same strong link to mortality in this study, but severe cases in women still warrant attention.

GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Compared to those without sleep-disordered breathing (AHI: <5 events/h), the fully adjusted hazard ratios for all-cause mortality in those with... severe (AHI: ≥30.0 events/h) sleep-disordered breathing were... 1.46 (95% CI: 1.14–1.86)... Stratified analyses by sex and age showed that the increased risk of death associated with severe sleep-disordered breathing was statistically significant in men aged 40–70 y (hazard ratio: 2.09; 95% CI: 1.31–3.33). Measures of sleep-related intermittent hypoxemia, but not sleep fragmentation, were independently associated with all-cause mortality.
Naresh M. Punjabi et al. · PLoS Medicine · 2009

Why this rating

Large prospective cohort (n=6,294), long follow-up (8.2 years), adjusted for major confounders, but observational design limits causal inference.

Source

Sleep-Disordered Breathing and Mortality: A Prospective Cohort Study

Naresh M. Punjabi et al. · PLoS Medicine · 2009

DOI 10.1371/journal.pmed.1000132

cohort · n=6294Cited 1,458×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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