People with sleep apnea have a shorter life expectancy than the larger population. That's because untreated sleep apnea increases your risk of serious health complications like heart attack and stroke.
A 2020 study that followed 4,502 people with sleep apnea over 30 years found that people who used CPAP long term were almost six times more likely to still be alive at the end of the study compared to non-CPAP users. They were also almost twice as likely to have survived versus short-term CPAP users.