Zeitschrift für Schlafstörungen und Therapie
Offener Zugang

Abstrakt

Health Consequences of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Joseph Roland D Espiritu

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), in addition to causing hypersomnolence and fatigue, adversely affects virtually every organ system, resulting in adverse neurologic, cardiovascular, respiratory, endocrine, gastrointestinal, obstetric, perinatal, perioperative, accident-related, and mortality-related health outcomes. Nocturnal respiratory dysfunction (i.e., hypoxemia-reoxygenation and hypercapnia), poor sleep quality (i.e., increased arousals, poor sleep efficiency, and altered sleep architecture), and intrathoracic pressure variations, in addition to shared comorbid risk factors, result in oxidative stress, inflammation, sympathetic activation, endothelial dysfunction, neurohormonal changes, thrombophilia, and hemodynamic changes, which are the pathophysiologic mechanisms for these adverse clinical outcomes.