Heart disease risk increases with sleep apnea

Some people that suffer from sleep apnea also end up with other diseases, cardiovascular disease being one of them. Apneas with associated significant oxygen desaturations leads to blood pressure levels being increased. This hemodynamic stress that occurs simultaneously with associated oxygen desaturations and increased carbon dioxide in the blood promotes heart disease.

People with sleep apnea can suffer from different severities, ranging from mild to severe. AHI (apnea hypopnea index) indicates the number of respiratory events that occur per hour of sleep. Apneas are a complete block of the airway, hypopneas are a partial block of the airway. A patient with mild sleep apnea has an AHI= 5 to 15, moderate with an AHI= 15 to 30, and severe generally defined as an AHI of >30. Often the patients with severe sleep apnea also suffer from obesity.

Treating sleep apnea effect on cardiovascular disease

Sleep apnea does not directly cause heart failure. In a study of 78 patients with congestive heart failure the presence of sleep apnea did not affect long-term survival. The presence of untreated moderate to severe sleep apnea in patients with heart failure is associated with an increased risk of death compared with patients with an AHI <15. Heart arrhythmia, defined as abnormal heart rhythm, is seen in people with severe sleep apnea. Patients with severe sleep apnea develop these arrhythmia over time.

Treating sleep apnea helps patients lose weight, this reduces the incidence of heart failure. Treatment with CPAP reduces daytime heart rate and systolic blood pressure. There is a reduced mortality rate with treated sleep apnea compared with untreated in heart failure patients.

Treating sleep apnea helps patients with other diseases that may develop over time. People with heart disease show improvement when losing weight, which also helps lower blood pressure. Sleep apnea is often seen in people who are overweight. These patients also present with increased blood pressure and also suffer from heart disease. Sleep apnea is not necessarily the cause of other disorders but contributes to the development and severity of certain co-morbidities like heart failure.

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Photo: Nychos, "A look inside," series.