Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/doctors-aim-to-better-diagnose-troubling-sleep-apnea Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Transcript Twelve to 18 million Americans suffer from sleep apnea -- many without knowing it. Now, new research suggests that they are more than three times as likely to die from other ailments as people who sleep normally. NewsHour Health correspondent Betty Ann Bowser reports. Read the Full Transcript Notice: Transcripts are machine and human generated and lightly edited for accuracy. They may contain errors. BETTY ANN BOWSER, NewsHour Correspondent: Nate Macapagal is desperate for a good night's sleep, so the 31-year-old scientist has come to the Sleep Disorders Clinic at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore. There, he was recently diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea.As shown on the left in this diagram, Macapagal literally stops breathing as he sleeps through the night because his airway collapses, cutting off oxygen to his brain. NATE MACAPAGAL, Sleep Apnea Patient: I've been diagnosed with depression last year. I'm currently on medication for that. Also been diagnosed with high blood pressure. I'd be driving in the morning just like after breakfast, and I'd fall asleep at the wheel, and that's not good. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Sleep apnea is one of the most massively underdiagnosed conditions in the U.S. today. The National Institutes of Health estimate 12 million to 18 million Americans have it and think that one-third of the entire population could be suffering from the condition or some other kind of sleep disorder.And recent studies show people with untreated sleep apnea may be flirting with death. Michael Twery heads the National Center on Sleep Disorders Research in Bethesda, Maryland.MICHAEL TWERY, National Center on Sleep Disorders Research: Having untreated sleep disordered breathing is associated with a twofold increase risk of stroke, an increased risk of heart failure, a doubling of the risk of diabetes in certain categories of patients. BETTY ANN BOWSER: A new study published in the August issue of the journal Sleep, one of the most comprehensive ever undertaken, found patients with obstructive sleep apnea were three times more likely to die from any cause than those with normal breathing.The study was done at the University of Wisconsin on 1,522 men and women over an 18-year period.To accurately diagnose obstructive sleep apnea, patients like Macapagal have to undergo a sleep study called nocturnal polysomnography. DOCTOR: This is for your right eye. BETTY ANN BOWSER: Macapagal was hooked up to a series of sensors that monitored his heart, lungs, brain activity… DOCTOR: This one goes right here. BETTY ANN BOWSER: … breathing patterns, arm and leg movements, and blood oxygen levels. DOCTOR: OK, we can move to the bed now.