Sleep apnea: a prospective study

Sleep apnea is remarkably prevalent among general medical patients. Of 26 men randomly selected on a Veterans Administratin hospital medical ward, with a mean age of 66.2 (SD=11.5) years, 7 (27%) had sleep apnea. Of concern is that two of the seven patients were receiving hypnotic drugs. Portable sleep recordings may need to be done when routinely assessing elderly medical patients.