Prothrombotic Factors in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review With Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND

Previous studies revealed that the prothrombotic factors in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) remain controversial.

AIM/OBJECTIVE: The aim of the systematic review is to elucidate the relationship between prothrombotic factors and OSA.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This systematic review was performed under the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis guidelines. The literature we investigated was extracted from 4 main medical databases (PubMed, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, and Chinese databases) as of February 2020. We used significant weighted mean differences (SMDs) with 95% CIs from random-effects model.

RESULTS

A total of 15 studies comprising 2190 patients were available for the meta-analysis. The pooled results showed that the levels of fibrinogen (SMD = 0.95, 95% CI = 0.26 to 1.65, = .000), vascular endothelial growth factor (SMD = 0.37, 95% CI = -0.90 to 1.63, = .000), and plasminogen activator inhibitor 1 (SMD = 0.61, 95% CI = 0.29 to 0.92, = .040) increased in patients with OSA. There were no statistical differences between groups in terms of d-dimer ( = .108) and platelet counts ( = .233). Subgroup analyses demonstrated that specimen types and age could account for the heterogeneity.

CONCLUSIONS AND SIGNIFICANCE

This meta-analysis indicated the relationship between prothrombotic factors in OSA hypopnea. Obstructive sleep apnea-related effects may underline the importance of considering the dysfunction of the hemostatic system. The prothrombotic factors in OSA can influence making a choice of appropriate therapy.