While men generally have a higher risk of developing sleep apnea, women are certainly not unaffected by the sleep disorder. In fact, millions of women across the United States suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, and many have never been diagnosed.
Recently, a new study conducted in Brazil found that perimenopausal women who suffer from moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) had a significantly higher risk of developing heart problems like hypertension and arterial stiffness. These women also had higher blood pressure and took more heart medicine than women who did not suffer from sleep apnea.
MedicalResearch.com interviewed Rodrigo Pinto Pedrosa, MD, PhD from the Sleep and Heart Laboratory at Pronto Socorro Cardiológico de Pernambuco, Brazil regarding his research and the resulting link between sleep apnea and hypertension in women:
Perimenopause is associated with increased cardiovascular risk. This study evaluated the association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and arterial stiffness and hypertension in perimenopausal women. OSA (apnea-hypopnea index: ≥5 events/hour) and moderate/severe OSA (apnea-hypopnea index: ≥15 events/h) were diagnosed in 111 (40.1%) and 31 (11.1%) of women, respectively. Women with moderate/severe obstructive sleep apnea had a higher prevalence of hypertension, were prescribed more medications for hypertension, had higher awake blood pressure, nocturnal blood pressure, diastolic blood pressure, as well as higher arterial stiffness (pulse wave velocity: 11.5 [10.1 to 12.3] vs 9.5 [8.6 to 10.8] m/s, p<0.001) than women without obstructive sleep apnea, respectively.
In the past, scientists and doctors have established a link between hypertension and sleep apnea in men, but this is the first time researchers have found a similar correlation in women.
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