Department of Medicine, Queen Mary Hospital, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China.
J Thorac Dis. 2012 Apr 1;4(2):164-72. doi: 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2012.01.06.
Untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is increasingly recognized as a risk factor contributing to cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Research in recent decades has uncovered many components of the complex pathological events leading to the atherosclerotic vascular diseases in OSA, which involve heightened oxidative stress as a result of intermittent hypoxia, vascular inflammation, activation of platelet and coagulation cascades, endothelial dysfunction and ultimately the formation of atherosclerotic plagues. The close association of OSA and conventional cardiovascular risk factors including hypertension, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia and obesity adds to the adverse cardiovascular sequelae. Further studies are required to clarify further on the pathophysiological processes, and the effect size of OSA therapy, and other potential preventive strategies.
未经治疗的阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停（OSA）日益被认为是导致心血管发病率和死亡率的一个危险因素。近几十年来的研究揭示了导致 OSA 患者发生动脉粥样硬化性血管疾病的许多复杂病理事件，包括间歇性低氧导致的氧化应激增强、血管炎症、血小板和凝血级联的激活、内皮功能障碍以及最终形成动脉粥样硬化斑块。OSA 与包括高血压、糖尿病、血脂异常和肥胖症在内的传统心血管危险因素密切相关，这增加了心血管不良后果的风险。还需要进一步的研究来阐明病理生理过程以及 OSA 治疗的效果大小和其他潜在的预防策略。
