Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome and High Blood Pressure

Characteristics of this association

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) is a frequent condition responsible for cardiovascular events.

The causal link between OSA and cardiovascular pathologies has only been formally established for arterial hypertension (AH).

The aim of our work is to define the clinical and polysomnographic characteristics of the association between OSAS and hypertension.

This is a retrospective study that included 95 patients with polysomnographically confirmed OSA.

Half of the patients were obese (52.6%) with a mean BMI of 34.83±7.84 kg/m2.

High blood pressure was observed in 42.1% of patients.

An increase in the frequency of hypertension with the severity of OSAS was observed.

It was 36.7% in patients with an AHI<30/h, and reached 51.85% in those with an AHI≥50/h.

We also noted an increase in the relative risk of hypertension with increasing AHI.

On the other hand, the mean values of SBP and DBP increased with increasing AHI.

The prevalence of obesity and its importance also increase with the severity of OSAS.

In view of our results, we note that the more severe OSAS is, the more it is associated with a high prevalence of obesity and hypertension.