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BOSTON – Sleep apnea doesn’t have to be severe or even symptomatic to increase the risk of hypertension and diabetes, according to a pair of new studies.
“We found that even mild sleep apnea was strongly associated with increased risk of developing hypertension by four times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea,” said principal investigator and top sleep researcher Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in a SLEEP press release. “Similarly, moderate sleep apnea was associated with increased risk of developing diabetes by almost three times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea.”
Dr. Vgontzas presented his team’s results on the link between mild to moderate OSA and hypertension at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a separate session, his colleague at Penn State, Yun Li, MD, presented the diabetes-related findings of the same study.
After multivariate adjustment, including controlling for change in body mass index over time, both mild and moderate OSA were significantly associated with increased odds for developing hypertension, compared with controls without OSA (odds ratios, 4.36 and 3.46, respectively.).
The researchers found their test for an age interaction was also significant, indicating that younger adults with nonsevere OSA were at increased risk of hypertension, while those over 60 years of age were not.
[polldaddy:9792720]
“In young and middle-aged adults, our findings suggest that early detection and treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea is warranted in order to prevent future cardiometabolic disease,” said Dr. Li in a press release. “Given the stronger association of sleep apnea with metabolic abnormalities in this age group, emphasis should be placed on yearly monitoring of indices of metabolic symptoms and lifestyle interventions, such as weight control, healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress management.”
For diabetes, moderate OSA was significantly associated with an almost threefold increased odds for developing diabetes after adjusting for a range of baseline and follow-up variables (OR, 2.78), but mild OSA was not associated with incident diabetes (OR, 0.47).
Both studies utilized data from the Penn State Adult Cohort, a random general population sample of 1,741 adults who underwent an overnight polysomnography sleep study and had a detailed medical history interview at baseline. Mild and moderate OSA were defined as an apnea hypopnea index from 5 to 14.9 and from 15 to 29.9, respectively. The presence of hypertension or diabetes at baseline and follow-up was defined by a self-report of receiving treatment for or having a physician diagnosis of either condition.
The age range of the studied population was wide (20-84 years), with a mean age of about 47 years. The incidence of diabetes was 10.2% at follow-up, while hypertension was found in 34.2% of patients. Dr. Vgontzas said the percentage of patients with hypertension was roughly what he had expected for this population.
“Our conclusion is that, the younger a person is, the stronger is the need for detection and treatment of sleep apnea,” said Dr. Vgontzas, though he acknowledged that putting these millions of people on continuous positive airway pressure therapy is not an easy proposition.
The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Vgontzas reported no conflicts of interest.
BOSTON – Sleep apnea doesn’t have to be severe or even symptomatic to increase the risk of hypertension and diabetes, according to a pair of new studies.
“We found that even mild sleep apnea was strongly associated with increased risk of developing hypertension by four times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea,” said principal investigator and top sleep researcher Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in a SLEEP press release. “Similarly, moderate sleep apnea was associated with increased risk of developing diabetes by almost three times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea.”
Dr. Vgontzas presented his team’s results on the link between mild to moderate OSA and hypertension at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a separate session, his colleague at Penn State, Yun Li, MD, presented the diabetes-related findings of the same study.
After multivariate adjustment, including controlling for change in body mass index over time, both mild and moderate OSA were significantly associated with increased odds for developing hypertension, compared with controls without OSA (odds ratios, 4.36 and 3.46, respectively.).
The researchers found their test for an age interaction was also significant, indicating that younger adults with nonsevere OSA were at increased risk of hypertension, while those over 60 years of age were not.
[polldaddy:9792720]
“In young and middle-aged adults, our findings suggest that early detection and treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea is warranted in order to prevent future cardiometabolic disease,” said Dr. Li in a press release. “Given the stronger association of sleep apnea with metabolic abnormalities in this age group, emphasis should be placed on yearly monitoring of indices of metabolic symptoms and lifestyle interventions, such as weight control, healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress management.”
For diabetes, moderate OSA was significantly associated with an almost threefold increased odds for developing diabetes after adjusting for a range of baseline and follow-up variables (OR, 2.78), but mild OSA was not associated with incident diabetes (OR, 0.47).
Both studies utilized data from the Penn State Adult Cohort, a random general population sample of 1,741 adults who underwent an overnight polysomnography sleep study and had a detailed medical history interview at baseline. Mild and moderate OSA were defined as an apnea hypopnea index from 5 to 14.9 and from 15 to 29.9, respectively. The presence of hypertension or diabetes at baseline and follow-up was defined by a self-report of receiving treatment for or having a physician diagnosis of either condition.
The age range of the studied population was wide (20-84 years), with a mean age of about 47 years. The incidence of diabetes was 10.2% at follow-up, while hypertension was found in 34.2% of patients. Dr. Vgontzas said the percentage of patients with hypertension was roughly what he had expected for this population.
“Our conclusion is that, the younger a person is, the stronger is the need for detection and treatment of sleep apnea,” said Dr. Vgontzas, though he acknowledged that putting these millions of people on continuous positive airway pressure therapy is not an easy proposition.
The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Vgontzas reported no conflicts of interest.
BOSTON – Sleep apnea doesn’t have to be severe or even symptomatic to increase the risk of hypertension and diabetes, according to a pair of new studies.
“We found that even mild sleep apnea was strongly associated with increased risk of developing hypertension by four times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea,” said principal investigator and top sleep researcher Alexandros N. Vgontzas, MD, of Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine in a SLEEP press release. “Similarly, moderate sleep apnea was associated with increased risk of developing diabetes by almost three times, compared to individuals without sleep apnea.”
Dr. Vgontzas presented his team’s results on the link between mild to moderate OSA and hypertension at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. In a separate session, his colleague at Penn State, Yun Li, MD, presented the diabetes-related findings of the same study.
After multivariate adjustment, including controlling for change in body mass index over time, both mild and moderate OSA were significantly associated with increased odds for developing hypertension, compared with controls without OSA (odds ratios, 4.36 and 3.46, respectively.).
The researchers found their test for an age interaction was also significant, indicating that younger adults with nonsevere OSA were at increased risk of hypertension, while those over 60 years of age were not.
[polldaddy:9792720]
“In young and middle-aged adults, our findings suggest that early detection and treatment of mild to moderate sleep apnea is warranted in order to prevent future cardiometabolic disease,” said Dr. Li in a press release. “Given the stronger association of sleep apnea with metabolic abnormalities in this age group, emphasis should be placed on yearly monitoring of indices of metabolic symptoms and lifestyle interventions, such as weight control, healthy diet, regular exercise, and stress management.”
For diabetes, moderate OSA was significantly associated with an almost threefold increased odds for developing diabetes after adjusting for a range of baseline and follow-up variables (OR, 2.78), but mild OSA was not associated with incident diabetes (OR, 0.47).
Both studies utilized data from the Penn State Adult Cohort, a random general population sample of 1,741 adults who underwent an overnight polysomnography sleep study and had a detailed medical history interview at baseline. Mild and moderate OSA were defined as an apnea hypopnea index from 5 to 14.9 and from 15 to 29.9, respectively. The presence of hypertension or diabetes at baseline and follow-up was defined by a self-report of receiving treatment for or having a physician diagnosis of either condition.
The age range of the studied population was wide (20-84 years), with a mean age of about 47 years. The incidence of diabetes was 10.2% at follow-up, while hypertension was found in 34.2% of patients. Dr. Vgontzas said the percentage of patients with hypertension was roughly what he had expected for this population.
“Our conclusion is that, the younger a person is, the stronger is the need for detection and treatment of sleep apnea,” said Dr. Vgontzas, though he acknowledged that putting these millions of people on continuous positive airway pressure therapy is not an easy proposition.
The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Vgontzas reported no conflicts of interest.
AT SLEEP 2017
Key clinical point: In a random sample of adults, the presence of mild to moderate OSA was associated with a significantly higher risk of hypertension and diabetes.
Major finding: Individuals with mild to moderate OSA had more than a fourfold increased risk of hypertension over 10 years of follow-up (OR, 4.36). Moderate OSA was significantly associated with incident diabetes risk (OR, 2.78), but mild OSA was not.
Data source: An observational study including a random sample of 1,741 adults between the ages of 20 and 84 years.
Disclosures: The study was supported by National Institutes of Health grants. Dr. Vgontzas reported no conflicts of interest.