WASHINGTON – President Joe Biden has started using a medical device commonly used to treat sleep apnea to help improve his sleep.
Biden is using a continuous positive airway pressure machine, or CPAP, which keeps a person’s airways open during sleep so he or she can receive the oxygen needed to function, multiple news outlets reported Wednesday.
The device is strapped to a person’s place while they sleep. Reporters noticed indentation marks on Biden’s face Wednesday as he departed the White House for Illinois.
Biden, 80, has a long history of sleep apnea, a common disorder in which breathing is interrupted repeatedly during sleep. The American Medical Association estimates that about 30 million people in the United States have sleep apnea, but only 6 million have been diagnosed with the condition.
The disclosure that Biden, the nation’s oldest president, has begun to use a CPAP machine comes as voters have increasingly said they have concerns about his age.
Biden underwent a physical exam in February.
His physician, Kevin O’Connor, said in a letter released afterward that he remains a “healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
Michael Collins covers the White House. Follow him on Twitter @mcollinsNEWS.
