Sleep apnea: state of the art

Many patient with, or at risk of, cardiovascular disease have sleep disordered breathing (SDB), which can be either obstructive (with intermittent collapse of the upper airway) or central (episodic loss of respiratory drive). SDB is associated with sleep disturbance, hypoxaemia, haemodynamic changes, and sympathetic activation. Such patients have a worse prognosis than those without SDB. Mask-based therapies of positive airway pressure targeted at SDB can improve measures of sleep quality and partially normalize the sleep and respiratory physiology, but recent randomized trials of cardiovascular outcomes in SDB have either been neutral (obstructive sleep apnea) or suggested the possibility of harm, likely from increased sudden death, in central sleep apnea.
Source: Trends in Cardiovascular Medicine - Category: Cardiology Authors: Source Type: research