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Previous studies have raised the question of whether hypertension and sleep apnea are related. To assess this, researchers recruited more than 6000 participants between 1995 and 1998 for a multicenter study. Baseline measurements included a self-administered sleep-habits questionnaire, resting blood pressure level, and other potential correlates of hypertension such as race, smoking status, alcohol use, and body weight.
As measured either by the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) or by calculating the amount of sleep time at which the patient had hemoglobin oxygen saturation below 90 percent, higher levels of sleep-disordered breathing correlated significantly with hypertension. For each of the 2 measurement types, the most sleep-disordered subgroup…