sleep apnea syndrome and cardiovascular diseases

Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) has known to be associated with obesity, hypoxemia, sympatheticactivation, and hypertension. In addition, SAS is associated with various mechanismsinvolved in cardiovascular diseases, such as oxidative stress, dyslipidemia, smoking, andpsychological stress. In recent prospective observation studies, SAS is known to be a riskfactor for cardiovascular diseases, i.e., heart failure, stroke, and coronary artery diseases. The association with heart failure was most evident. In some participants in the longitudinalstudy applied with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment, SAS was notassociated with prognosis. With the viewpoints in the current standard of cardiovascularmedicine, there seems to be few evidence showing that CPAP treatment could prevent orimprove cardiovascular outcome. Detailed review of the limitations of the prospective observationalstudies suggests that more sophisticated measurement of the clinical outcomesand adjustment of confounding factors will be required in the future studies. And for theclinical application, more evidence of CPAP treatment on the cardiovascular outcomes aremandatory