Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent chronic sleep disorder that affects 3% to 7% in middle aged individuals and increases with age. It is considered an important independent contributing factor for the development of hypertension, diabetes and heart rhythm disorders. The prevalence of arterial hypertension has been reported to reach 50% of patients with OSA. OSA has been identified as the most common secondary cause associated with resistant hypertension. There is evidence that compared with older patients, the risk of hypertension in OSA patients may be particularly pronounced in younger adult ones (less than 50 years).~Traditionally, cardiovascular risk stratification in hypertensive patients was based on the average blood pressure (BP) measured in the clinic. Accumulated data has shown that target-organ damage is related not only to 24-h mean intra-arterial BP, but also to BP variability (BPV) in subjects with essential hypertension. Growing evidence demonstrated that BPV has considerable prognostic value for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular outcomes, independent of average BP. In addition, it has been found that hypoxia condition in pneumoconiosis patients was closely associated with exaggerated BPV in ambulatory BP. However, the selections of antihypertensive drugs remain yet not very clearly for hypertensive patients combined with OSA.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent chronic sleep disorder that affects 3% to 7% in middle aged individuals and increases with age. OSA has been identified as the most common secondary cause associated with resistant hypertension. There is evidence that compared with older patients, the risk of hypertension in OSA patients may be particularly pronounced in younger adult ones (less than 50 years).~Traditionally, cardiovascular risk stratification in hypertensive patients was based on the average blood pressure (BP) measured in the clinic. Accumulated data has shown that target-organ damage is related not only to 24-h mean intra-arterial BP, but also to BP variability (BPV) in subjects with essential hypertension. Growing evidence demonstrated that BPV has considerable prognostic value for all-cause mortality and cardiovascular outcomes, independent of average BP. In addition, it has been found that hypoxia condition in pneumoconiosis patients was closely associated with exaggerated BPV in ambulatory BP. However, the selections of antihypertensive drugs remain yet not very clearly for hypertensive patients combined with OSA.