Research Topic · Peer-Reviewed

Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular

Sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease describes the well-recognized link between disordered breathing during sleep, most often obstructive sleep apnea, and disorders of the heart and blood vessels. In obstructive sleep apnea, repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep produces cycles of reduced or absent ai…

Curated from this journal's research 📚 10 peer-reviewed articles cited Cited 39× across the literature 🔖 ISSN 2574-4518 🗓 Reviewed July 2026

Overview

Sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease describes the well-recognized link between disordered breathing during sleep, most often obstructive sleep apnea, and disorders of the heart and blood vessels. In obstructive sleep apnea, repeated collapse of the upper airway during sleep produces cycles of reduced or absent airflow, intermittent drops in blood oxygen, and brief arousals. These cycles impose recurrent physiological stress through intermittent hypoxia and reoxygenation, surges in sympathetic nervous system activity, fluctuations in intrathoracic pressure, oxidative stress, and inflammation. Over time these mechanisms contribute to and worsen cardiovascular conditions, and sleep apnea is associated with hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke, as well as with the metabolic disturbances that compound cardiovascular risk. The relationship is bidirectional in clinical practice, since cardiovascular and metabolic disease and sleep-disordered breathing frequently coexist, and unrecognized apnea can undermine the management of conditions such as resistant hypertension. Cardiac function and the prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing can be evaluated using ambulatory monitoring and polysomnographic methods, while screening identifies apnea in at-risk groups, including patients with diabetes. Treatment of sleep apnea, particularly with positive airway pressure and weight reduction, aims to relieve the nightly physiological burden and to mitigate cardiovascular consequences. Understanding this connection is central to sleep medicine and to recognizing and treating apnea as part of cardiovascular risk reduction.

Research published in this journal

10 peer-reviewed articles, ranked by relevance. Each links to its DOI.

How this research is being cited

The 10 articles above have been cited 39 times in the scholarly literature. Citation data via OpenAlex and Crossref, updated Jun 2026.

A sample of recent works citing this journal's research on Sleep Apnea Cardiovascular, linking to each citing work.

Editorial oversight

Curated from peer-reviewed research published in Sleep And Sleep Disorder Research (ISSN 2574-4518).

Journal editorial board
Dragos Octavian Palade · Romania Mauro Manconi · Switzerland Karim Sedky · United States

This page summarises published research for orientation; it is not medical or professional advice.