Obstructive sleep apnea may be linked to microbleeds in the brain – CTV
November 02, 2025
Maybe you know you snore like a bear, but you don’t feel much urgency to look into it. Or maybe you have been told to wear a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine for sleep apnea, but it is just so cumbersome.
A new study shows that it is important to take obstructive sleep apnea seriously now –– it could impact your risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease later.
Moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea is associated with a greater risk for new microbleeds in the brain, according to the study.
“Cerebral microbleeds are a common finding in the aging brain,” said Dr. Jonathan Graff-Radford, professor of neurology at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, Minnesota. He was not involved in the research.
Microbleeds increase with age, and people who have them have a slightly higher risk of future strokes and faster cognitive decline, Graff-Radford said. “Anything that increases microbleeds is relevant to brain aging,” he added.
