Sleep apnea may impair blood flow

Obstructive sleep apnea, a condition that causes pauses in breathing during sleep, is associated with abnormalities of vessels that supply blood to the heart. Previous studies have found an association between sleep apnea and high blood pressure and other risk factors for heart disease but the new one showed that using CPAP to reduce breathing interruptions during sleep reverses the blood vessel abnormalities. University of Birmingham researchers monitored the function of blood vessels in 108 healthy adults in order to study possible association between blood vessel abnormalities and obstructive sleep apnea in otherwise healthy people. According to the results published in Hypertension, the blood supply improves after receiving 26 weeks of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in patients with sleep apnea. "The findings should change how doctors treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea," said lead author researcher Gregory Y.H. Lip. "Even apparently healthy patients with sleep apnea show abnormalities of small and large blood vessels, as well as impaired blood supply to the heart muscle, and these can improve with CPAP therapy," he added.