Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common and vastly underdiagnosed sleep disorder. One that can contribute to a variety of ailments, affecting virtually every organ in your body. According to SleepApnea.org, 30 million Americans suffer from OSA, with 80 percent of moderate and severe cases undiagnosed.
As severe cases are associated with a higher risk of stroke, heart attack, and diabetes (among other conditions), the failure to recognize this disorder poses serious healthcare consequences, including a financial cost to society. It’s estimated that diagnosing and treating every patient in the United States who has OSA would result in an very substansial annual economic saving.
Likely reasons why sleep apnea is underdiagnosed include... (read more here).
Sleep Cycle, with millions of users worldwide, has built up what is likely to be the world’s richest repository with data reflecting global sleep habits. They have many interesting articles about sleep that are worth checking out on their website.