| Rationale. Hypertension occurs in 10% of pregnancies. Snoring is a marker for sleep apnea, and is a newly identified risk factor for gestational hypertension. Moreover, sleep apnea is an independent risk factor for hypertension in the non-pregnant population. I hypothesized that sleep apnea was associated with gestational hypertension.;Design. Case-control study of 17 pregnant women with gestational hypertension and 33 pregnant women without hypertension, with matching by gestational age. Sleep apnea was ascertained by polysomnography.;Results. The crude odds ratio for the presence of obstructive sleep apnea, given the presence of gestational hypertension, was 5.6. The odds ratio was 7.5 (95% CI 3.5-16), based on a logistic regression model with adjustment for maternal age, gestational age, nulliparity, first pregnancy, and body mass index.;Conclusion. Gestational hypertension was strongly associated with the presence of obstructive sleep apnea.;Hypothesis. The prevalence of sleep apnea is higher among pregnant women with hypertensive pregnancies than among those without hypertension during pregnancy. |
