Sleep apnea linked to changes in the brain's wiring that may raise risk of dementia, stroke

photo of an older man with white hair and a blue shirt sleeping in bed. his mouth is slightly open and a woman can be seen lying near him covering her ears as if he's snoring

Sleep apnea may be linked to certain indicators of worse brain health, according to a new study.

The study, published Wednesday (May 10) in the journal Neurology, looked at people with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a condition where the upper throat muscles relax during sleep and block the airway. The researchers used magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and sleep studies to examine if sleep apnea and altered sleep were associated with two kinds of unusual patterns in the brain's white matter — the insulated wires that extend from brain cells.