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Review
. 2019 Jun 7;11(6):e4858.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.4858.

The Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypertension

Avani R Patel  1 , Amar R Patel  1 , Shivank Singh  2 , Shantanu Singh  3 , Imran Khawaja  3
Affiliations
Review

The Association of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Hypertension

Avani R Patel et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition characterized by recurrent episodes of partial or complete upper airway obstruction during sleep. Hypertension (HTN) is defined by the presence of a chronic elevation of systemic arterial pressure above a certain threshold value (≥140 mm Hg systolic or ≥90 mm Hg diastolic). On the surface, OSA and HTN appear very different from one another. Despite this, they share several common risk factors including obesity, male gender, and advancing age. In 2003, the Seventh Joint National Committee (JNC VII) recognized OSA as a secondary cause of HTN. As physicians, our goal is to understand the OSA-HTN association better through academic study regarding its epidemiology, its pathophysiology, and its treatment.

Keywords: hypertension; obstructive sleep apnea.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The prevalence of secondary causes of hypertension
A created pie chart representing a 1985 study examining the prevalence of secondary causes of hypertension associated with resistant hypertension in a cohort of 125 patients from Brazil. From this study, it was determined that OSA was the most prevalent secondary cause of resistant hypertension [18].
Figure 2
Figure 2. The pathophysiological mechanisms shared between obstructive sleep apnea and hypertension
Flow chart representing the shared pathophysiological mechanisms between OSA and HTN OSA, obstructive sleep apnea; HTN, hypertension
Figure 3
Figure 3. The renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system
Flow chart representing the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system and the organs and hormones involved in its regulation
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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