That's part of the problem with sleep apnea, the chicken or the egg. It's really hard to tell what came first regarding symptoms unless the symptoms resolve with CPAP. Most of us will probably never know if we had heart disease or propensity for stroke (taking family history into account) before our apnea was diagnosed. The anecdotal evidence is convincing-- forum members who lost family members due to what was probably untreated sleep apnea. Good discussion, Henning.