S. Schaupp et al., PREVALENCE OF HYPERTENSION AND CIRCADIAN BLOOD-PRESSURE RHYTHM IN SLEEP-APNEA SYNDROME, Nieren- und Hochdruckkrankheiten, 24(3), 1995, pp. 110-111
Sleep apnea syndrome (SAS) has developed during the past years as a we
ll defined disease. The prognosis of SAS-patients is deteriorated by a
ccompanied cardiovascular diseases. Hypertension with often disturbed
blood pressure rhythm is one of them. We investigated 70 SAS-patients
of a clinic for rehabilitation and diagnosed hypertension in 57% of al
l cases with increasing prevalence depending on severeness of SAS. Blo
od pressure rhythm was disturbed (non-dippers) in 42% of investigated
cases independent of severeness of SAS. This underlines the prognostic
value of all grades of SAS. On the other hand we want to emphasize, t
hat screening on SAS cannot be well done by 24-hour blood pressure mon
itoring.