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Obstructive sleep apnea might trigger acute pulmonary embolism: results from a cohort study
T M Berghaus1, A Witkowska2, T Wagner2
1Department of Cardiology, Respiratory Medicine and Intensive Care, Klinikum Augsburg, Ludwig-Maximilians University Munich, Stenglinstrasse 2, 86156, Augsburg, Germany. thomas.berghaus@klinikum-augsburg.de.
Background:
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might be an independent risk factor for acute pulmonary embolism (APE).
Aim Of The Study:
A prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate if APE is sleep-related in untreated OSA syndrome or not.
Methods:
206 APE patients were evaluated by portable monitoring and polysomnography. APE symptoms which caused an arousal from sleep or occurred within the first hour after wake-up were considered to be sleep-related.
Results:
APE manifestation is significantly more often sleep-related in patients with moderate or severe OSA compared to subjects with an apnea-hypopnea index ≤15/h (p < 0.001). The relative risk of sleep-related APE increases with the severity of OSA.
Conclusions:
OSA might trigger APE, possibly reflecting a pathophysiological relationship between these two conditions.
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