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Obstructive sleep apnea and atherosclerosis—update 2019

Obstruktive Schlafapnoe und Arteriosklerose – Update 2019

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Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder that has been associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations. While treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been shown to exert several beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease and prognosis in observational studies, CPAP was not effective in three recent randomized controlled trials unless it was used for more than 4 hours of sleep.

Zusammenfassung

Die obstruktive Schlafapnoe (OSA) stellt eine häufige Erkrankung dar, die mit einem erhöhten Risiko für Arteriosklerose und deren klinischen Manifestationen in Zusammenhang gebracht wird. In Beobachtungsstudien wurden zwar für die Behandlung mit kontinuierlichem positivem Atemwegsdruck („continuous positive airway pressure“, CPAP) verschiedene günstige Auswirkungen auf Herz-Kreislauf-Erkrankungen und deren Prognose nachgewiesen, in drei aktuellen randomisierten kontrollierten Studien stellte sich die CPAP-Therapie jedoch nicht als wirksam heraus, wenn sie nicht mindestens vier Stunden lang während des Schlafs eingesetzt wurde.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Internal Medicine II—Cardiology/Pneumology, University of Bonn, Sigmund-Freud-Straße 25, 53127, Bonn, Germany

    Leonie Biener, Carmen Pizarro, Georg Nickenig & Dirk Skowasch

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  1. Leonie Biener
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  2. Carmen Pizarro
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Correspondence to Leonie Biener.

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L. Biener, C. Pizarro, G. Nickenig, and D. Skowasch declare that they have no competing interests.

This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.

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Biener, L., Pizarro, C., Nickenig, G. et al. Obstructive sleep apnea and atherosclerosis—update 2019. Somnologie 23, 3–7 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11818-019-0194-8

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