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Resistant Hypertension Linked to Increased Risk of Sleep Apnea

Sleep apnea with resistant HTN linked to increased risk of ischemic heart event, congestive heart failure

THURSDAY, Aug. 11, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Among adults with hypertension, resistant hypertension (RH) is associated with increased risk of sleep apnea, according to a study published online July 18 in Respirology.

Simran K. Bhandari, M.D., from the Kaiser Permanente Los Angeles Medical Center, and colleagues conducted a retrospective cohort study involving 470,386 adults with hypertension within an integrated health system. The authors determined the rates of sleep apnea in RH and non-RH patients.

The researchers identified sleep apnea in 7.2 percent of adults with hypertension. Sleep apnea occurred in 9.6 percent of those with RH and in 6.8 percent of those with non-RH. The multivariable odds ratios were 1.16, 3.57, and 2.20 for sleep apnea in RH versus non-RH, body mass index ≥30 kg/m², and males, respectively. Sleep apnea in RH had a multivariable adjusted hazard ratio of 1.24 (95 percent confidence interval [CI], 1.13 to 1.36) for ischemic heart disease; 1.43 (95 percent CI, 1.28 to 1.61) for congestive heart failure; 0.98 (95 percent CI, 0.85 to 1.12) for stroke; and 1.04 (95 percent CI, 0.95 to 1.14) for mortality, compared to sleep apnea in non-RA individuals.

“We observed a modest increase in likelihood for sleep apnea among RH compared to non-RH patients,” the authors write.

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