Serum osmolarity is associated with severity of obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: a novel risk factor for cardiovascular disease

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is well-known to be associated with high risk for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) associated risk factors such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic inflammation and chronic kidney disease. Recent studies showed that hyperosmolarity may cause chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease. Here we tested the association between serum osmolality and severity of OSAS and diabetes mellitus, hypertension. This was a cross-sectional study in which patients who had undergone a polysomnographic study were recruited. Included patients were grouped according to apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) as mild (AHI between 5 and 14.9) and moderate-severe OSAS (AHI >= 15). Subjects using diuretics or with history of chronic kidney disease were excluded from the study. Serum osmolarity (mosm/l) were calculated for all subjects.A total of 415 subjects (63.4% men) were included. A total of 340 patients with varying severity of OSAS and 75 controls without OSAS were enrolled. We found a positive correlation between AHI and serum osmolarity (p=0.001, r= 0.63). Serum osmolarity is higher in severe OSAS group compared to moderate, mild OSAS and control groups ( p=0.0001) (Figure 1). When we divide study population according to median serum osmolarity level, the prevelance of hypertension (35.6% vs. 24.6), diabetes (21.2% vs. 11.6%), CVD (13.9 vs 9.2) were high in subjects with higher median serum osmolarity group (p<0.05). Serum osmolarity is strongly ass...
Source: European Respiratory Journal - Category: Respiratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Sleep and control of breathing Source Type: research