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Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Acute Coronary Syndromes: Etiology, Risk, and Management

  • Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes (R Gulati, Section Editor)
  • Published:
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Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by upper airway collapse and airflow reduction despite respiratory effort, resulting in intermittent hypoxia and arousals, leading to a cascade of hemodynamic, autonomic, inflammatory, and metabolic effects, responsible for its adverse cardiovascular effect. OSA is an independent risk factor for cardiovascular disease, and its prevalence in patients presenting with acute coronary syndromes is up to 69 %. Furthermore, OSA has been associated with increased risk of adverse events after an acute coronary syndrome. Continuous positive airway pressure is considered the mainstay of treatment of OSA and has been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events. However, the proper time to start treatment in the acute setting is unknown. A prospective randomized clinical trial is currently underway to answer this question.

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Conflict of Interest

B. Cepeda-Valery, S. Acharjee, A. Romero-Corral, G. S. Pressman, and A. S. Gami declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

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

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Institute for Heart and Vascular Health and Cardiovascular Diseases, Einstein Medical Center, 5501 Old York Road, Philadelphia, PA, 19144, USA

    B. Cepeda-Valery, S. Acharjee, A. Romero-Corral & G. S. Pressman

  2. Cardiac Electrophysiology, Midwest Heart Specialists-Advocate Medical Group, Elmhurst, IL, USA

    A. S. Gami

Authors
  1. B. Cepeda-Valery
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  2. S. Acharjee
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  3. A. Romero-Corral
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  4. G. S. Pressman
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  5. A. S. Gami
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to A. S. Gami.

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This article is part of the Topical Collection on Management of Acute Coronary Syndromes

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Cepeda-Valery, B., Acharjee, S., Romero-Corral, A. et al. Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Acute Coronary Syndromes: Etiology, Risk, and Management. Curr Cardiol Rep 16, 535 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-014-0535-y

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-014-0535-y

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