• Valeria Bisogni, Martino F Pengo, Panagis Drakatos, Giuseppe Maiolino, Brian Kent, Giacomo Rossitto, Joerg Steier, and Gian Paolo Rossi.
• Clinica dell'Ipertensione Arteriosa, Dept. of Medicine-DIMED, University of Padua, Italy. Electronic address: valeria.bisogni@hotmail.it.
• Int. J. Cardiol. 2017 Jun 1; 236: 458-461.

BackgroundIncreased arterial stiffness and sympathetic nervous system activity, independent markers of cardiovascular risk, are common in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnoea, who have excessive daytime sleepiness. Among patients with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea, however, it remains unknown whether arterial stiffness and/or increased sympathetic nervous system activity correlate with excessive daytime sleepiness.MethodsWe measured heart rate variability, as an index of autonomic nervous system activity, and arterial stiffness index, as a marker of vascular damage and cardiovascular risk, in 56 men aged 18 to 75years, with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea, and matched into two groups, "sleepy" (Epworth Sleepiness Scale≥10) and "non-sleepy" (Epworth Sleepiness Scale<10).ResultsWe found no association of excessive daytime sleepiness with sympathetic nervous system activation (very low frequency power 18,947±11,207ms2vs 15,893±8,272ms2, p=0.28; low frequency (LH) power 17,753±8,441ms2vs 15,414±5,666ms2, p=0.26; high frequency (HF) power 7,527±1,979ms2vs 8,257±3,416ms2, p=0.36; LF/HF ratio 3.04±1.37 vs 2.55±1.01, p=0.15) and mean arterial stiffness index (6.97±0.83 vs 7.26±0.66, p=0.18) in mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea patients.ConclusionsSymptoms of excessive daytime sleepiness are not associated with sympathetic nervous system activation and arterial stiffness in male subjects with mild-to-moderate obstructive sleep apnoea.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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