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SDB and hypertension

People with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) have an increased risk of developing hypertension, independent of all relevant risk factors.1-4, 7 This risk is related to SDB severity; the more severe the SDB, the greater the risk of developing hypertension.

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

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

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

More Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)

Sleep apnea and heart failure
A significant number of heart failure patients also experience sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Find out how treating your patients’ breathing condition can improve their overall health.
SDB and stroke
If your patient has had a stroke, they might also have developed sleep disordered breathing (SDB)—which might be undiagnosed. Find out how treating your patients’ breathing condition can improve their overall health.

References

  1. Peppard PE et al. N Engl J Med. 2000
  2. Lavie P et al. BMJ. 2000
  3. Nieto FJ, Young TB et al. JAMA. 2000
  • 4: Bixler EO, Vgontzas AN at al. Arch Intern Med. 2000
  • 5: Sjostrom C, Lindberg E et al. Thorax. 2002
  • 6: Logan AG, Perlikowski SM et al. J Hypertens. 2001
  • 7: Marin JM et al. JAMA. 2012
  • 8: Montesi et al. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine. 2012