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Obstructive sleep apnea and risk of stroke: time for a trial

Nature Clinical Practice Cardiovascular Medicine volume 6, pages 90–91 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common among patients with cardiovascular disease; however, the association between OSA and risk of cardiovascular events is not clear. Valham and colleagues studied the effect of OSA on incident stroke, acute myocardial infarction, and death in patients with angina pectoris who were referred for coronary angiography. Patients with OSA were not more likely to die or experience a myocardial infarction than were individuals without OSA, but, after adjusting for potential confounders, patients with OSA were approximately three times more likely to experience a new stroke. Furthermore, there was a dose–response effect, with patients who had mild OSA and those who had severe OSA being 2.4 times and 3.6 times more likely to experience stroke, respectively. While this study contributes to our understanding of the interactions between OSA and the risk of both cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events, it also raises several important questions.

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Acknowledgements

VK Somers is supported by National Heart Lung and Blood Institute grants HL65176, HL73211, and 1 R21 DK 081014 - 01 A2 and grant #1ULI RR024150 from the National Center for Research Resources.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. AD Calvin is a Resident in Internal Medicine and VK Somers is a Professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA.,

    Andrew D Calvin & Virend K Somers

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  1. Andrew D Calvin
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  2. Virend K Somers
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Virend K Somers.

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Competing interests

VK Somers has served as a consultant for Cardiac Concepts, GlaxoSmithKline, ResMed, Respironics, and Sepracor and has received research support from the ResMed Foundation and the Respironics Sleep and Breathing Foundation. AD Calvin declared no competing interests.

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Calvin, A., Somers, V. Obstructive sleep apnea and risk of stroke: time for a trial. Nat Rev Cardiol 6, 90–91 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/ncpcardio1418

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