Sleep Facts

Did you Know .......?

• About 70 million Americans suffer from a sleep problem; nearly 60 percent of them have a chronic sleep disorder.
• Sleep apnea affects about 18 million Americans. 95% of these cases go undiagnosed and untreated.
• More common than asthma, sleep apnea causes 38,000 cardiovascular deaths annually.
• Sleep apnea is associated with high blood pressure, coronary heart disease, heart attack, pulmonary hypertension, congestive heart failure, stroke, mental impairment, sexual problems and injury from accidents.
• Sleep apnea affects more than
  • 30% of coronary artery disease patients
  • 50% of congestive heart failure patients
  • 60% of stroke survivors
  • 80% of drug-resistant hypertension patients
• Approximately 10% to 30% of adults snore.
• For 5% of adults, snoring is the first indication of obstructive sleep apnea.
• An estimated 200,000 people suffer from narcolepsy.
• More than 50 percent of Americans aged 65 and older have a sleep problem.
• The prevalence of sleep disorders appears to increase with advancing age, and as Americans age, an estimated 80 million Americans will have a sleep problem by the year 2010.
• About 25 percent of American children aged 1-5 have a sleep disturbance.
• Approximately 60% to 85% of people who have tried continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) to relieve sleep apnea have been able to continue its use.
• Sleep disorders and sleepiness cost the general public over $16 billion annually; an additional $50 - $100 billion results from the indirect costs of accidents, litigation, property destruction, hospitalization and death.
• The U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that 200,000 reported automobile accidents each year may be sleep-related.
• Individuals with OSA are seven times more likely to have car accidents.
• Physicians receive, on average, a total of only 2.1 hours of formal education in sleep medicine during their medical school training.