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Cardiovascular Morbidity & Sleep Apnea
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by sleep-related periodic breathing, upper-airway obstruction, sleep disruption, and hemodynamic perturbations
Epidemiological data shows a strong association between untreated OSA & cardiovascular morbidity/mortality
Two recent studies by Gottlieb et al. (1) & Chirinos et al. (2) elucidated two important explicit and complicit treatment considerations for OSA
(1) In moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, the use of CPAP alone during sleep may ameliorate systemic hypertension and cardiovascular risk, even in patients who do not have "subjective" sleepiness
(2) Weight loss combined with CPAP use may further decrease cardiovascular morbidity
References
Basner R. Cardiovascular Morbidity and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. N Engl J Med 2014; 370:2339-2341 June 12, 2014