In a recent revelation, it has come to light that aged women battling sleep apnea are almost twice at the risk of getting affected by dementia as compared to their counterparts having no issues related to sleep apnea.

Though the study lacks conclusive statistical evidence, it has urged sleep apnea patients to get screened for cognitive problems.

For the study, a team from the University of California, San Francisco, examined nearly 300 women of average age of 82 years without dementia on the basis of changes in breathing and oxygen flow during the night, in addition to watching frequent breaks taken in sleep, which is a key part of sleep apnea.

After five year, the team invited the same group of women to check their memory status, and found that about 36% of the women had mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Among those, during the first stage, who had shown signs of sleep apnea, about 45% were found to have developed thinking and memory problems.

Accounting the impact of factors like race, weight and other diseases and medications, women with sleep apnea were twice more vulnerable to cognitive impairment or dementia.

Reacting to the report, Dr. Yaffe, a Professor of Psychiatry, Neurology And Epidemiology at the University of California, San Francisco, claimed that potential cognitive decline "is another reason why you want to be medically followed carefully and possibly treated" for sleep apnea.