| Summary: | Introduction: In men with hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased arterial stiffness. However, it is not clear if the impact of OSA on patients with hypertension is similar in women.
Methods: We recruited consecutive patients with established diagnosis of hypertension under a standardized antihypertensive treatment (hydrochlorothiazide plus enalapril or losartan). All patients were submitted to full polysomnography and carotid-femoral pulse wave velocity (PWV). We performed analysis according to the presence of OSA (defined by an apnea-hypopnea index ≥15 events/hour of sleep) and by gender (male and females).
Results: Ninety-five patients were studied (14males without OSA; 28 males with OSA, 29 females without OSA and 24 females with OSA). OSA frequency was 66% in males group versus 45% in females group (p=0.02). The age of female with OSA (59±10yrs) was significantly higher than female without OSA(52±10yrs), while the age did not differ between the male with(58±10yrs) or without OSA(56±8yrs). The BMI was also significantly greater in female with OSA (32.8±5 vs. 28.7±5kg/m2), while was similar in male with(30.5±4.5) or without OSA(29.5±2.5). The blood pressure was not different in the patients with or without OSA. PWV was significantly higher in both male(12.7m/s) and female(13.2m/s) with OSA than the couterparts without OSA(male-11 m/s, female-11.7 m/s) even after adjustments by age. The multivariate linear regression showed that OSA was independently associated with PWV(p=0.008).
Conclusions: In patients with hypertension, the presence of OSA is associated with higher PWV regardless of gender.
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