Sleep Apnea Syndrome And Cardiovascular Disease

Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) includes obstructive sleep apnea syndrome(OSA), central sleep apnea syndrome(CSA). OSA is the most common, with an incidence man and woman of 4% and 2%, respectively. Major risk factors for OSA include obesity, male gender, increasing age and abnormal of craniofacial morphology. OSA as the most extreme variant is characterized by intermittent episodes of the up airway during sleep that disrupt normal ventilation and sleep architecture and is typically associated with snoring and daytime sleepiness. With the research development of OSA, there are increasing information indicated that OSA have important relationship with cardiovascular disease(CVD) and that OSA via various mechanisms increase CVD morbidity and mortality. However, many risk factors for OSA, such as obesity and male gender, are the same as for hypertension and CVD. Thus, only recently has there been converging evidence that OSA is a risk factor for their development. Moreover, there is increased data show that OSA is linked to metabolic, vascular, hematology and genetic markers associated with increased risk of CVD. In addition, CSA mainly results from heart failure, otherwise appears to be an important factor that influences morbidity and mortality among those patients. Nevertheless, responsible mechanisms, the role of sleep apnea (SA) as a risk factor "independent" of associated morbidities and whether treatment of SA will mitigate this are unknown and remain to be determined. Traditional Medicine has some experience in treating SA but there are still many problems undetermined.This article discusses SA and CVD and brings forward new research directions of the relationship of SA and CVD and the problems that Traditional Medicine faced.