People with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) have an increased risk of developing hypertension, independent of all relevant risk factors.1, 2, 3, 4  This risk is related to SDB severity; the more severe the SDB, the greater the risk of developing hypertension.2

During healthy sleep, blood pressure decreases, but SDB patients instead tend to experience:

  • elevated blood pressure during sleep2
  • prolonged cardiovascular stress, which can lead to increased blood pressure also occurring during the day1.

SDB is present in more than 30% of patients with hypertension,6 and in around 80% of patients with drug resistant hypertension.7 For this group of patients in particular, treatment with positive airway pressure therapy may be especially important.8, 5

References

4

Bixler EO, Vgontzas AN, at el. Association of hypertension and sleep-disordered breathing. Arch Intern Med 2000; 160:2289-95.

5

Marin JM et al. Association between treated and untreated obstructive sleep apnea and risk of hypertension. JAMA. 2012 

6

Sjostrom C, Lindberg E, et al.  Prevalence of sleep apnoea and snoring in hypertensive men: a population based study. Thorax 2002; 57:602-7.

7

Logan AG, Perlikowski SM,et al.  High prevalence of unrecognized sleep apnoea in drug-resistant hypertension. J Hypertens 2001; 19:2271-7.

8

Montesi et al. The Effect of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment on Blood Pressure: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials, Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2012