Resistant Hypertension/Sleep Apnea Combo Linked to Poor Outcomes

Individuals with resistant hypertension (RH) are more likely to have sleep apnea (SA) than those without the condition, and those with both RH and SA are more likely to experience an ischemic heart event and congestive heart failure, according to the results of a recent study.

To examine rates of SA among patients with hypertension and their effects on cardiovascular events and all-cause mortality, researchers conducted a retrospective cohort study of 470,386 individuals with hypertension from January 2006 to December 2010.
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SA was identified in 33,682 of the participants and was present in 9.6% of those with RH compared with 6.8% of those with non-RH. Multivariable odds ratio for SA was 1.16 for RH versus non-RH. Compared with SA in non-RH individuals, SA in RH had multivariable adjusted hazard ratios of 1.24 for ischemic heart events, 1.43 for congestive heart failure, 0.98 for stroke, and 1.04 for mortality.

“We observed a modest increase in likelihood for SA among RH compared to non-RH patients. Risks for ischemic heart events and congestive heart failure were higher for SA in RH compared to SA in non-RH patients; however, there were no differences in risk for stroke and mortality,” the authors wrote.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Bhandari SK, Shi J, Molnar MZ, et al. Comparisons of sleep apnoea rate and outcomes among patients with resistant and non-resistant hypertension [published online July 18, 2016]. Respirology. doi:10.1111/resp.12840