Abstrakt

Obstructive sleep apnea is a common health disorder. Acute rises in systemic and pulmonary arterial blood pressure coinciding with obstructive apneas during sleep are well described and explain the findings of a non-dipping during the night in 24-hour blood pressure recordings. Sympathetic activity is increased at night as well as platelet aggregability. Furthermore, epidemiological studies could document a strong association between obstructive sleep apnea at night and daytime hypertension, but also pulmonary hypertension, even after correction for other risk factors like age, body mass index, and gender. Furthermore, this sleep-related breathing disorder may impair cerebral or myocardial perfusion during obstructive sleep apneas and worsen left ventricular dysfunction. There are also associations with the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis, with stroke and with rhythm disturbances, especially with atrial fibrillation. Therefore, obstructive sleep apnea should be considered in patients with refractory hypertension, unexplained pulmonary hypertension, and in those with a non-dipping during the night in 24-hour blood pressure recordings, but also in patients with nocturnal myocardial ischemia or unexplained right or left ventricular dysfunction or left ventricular hypertrophy without daytime hypertension and clinical signs or symptoms suggestive of this sleep-related breathing disorder.

Autoreninformation

Autoren

• B. Sanner

Abteilungen

• Bethesda Krankenhaus Wuppertal, Akademisches Lehrkrankenhaus der Ruhr-Universität Bochum

Adresse

Prof. Dr. med. B. Sanner
Bethesda Krankenhaus
Akademisches Lehrkrankenhaus der Ruhr-Universität Bochum
Hainstraße 36
D-42109 Wuppertal
Email: [email protected]

Citation