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od pressure readings. All other patients presented normal blood pressure readings. Further analysis revealed that patients with WCH took three times as long to fall asleep and had longer periods of wakefulness after sleep onset than patients with sustained hypertension. No other differences in sleep characteristics, lung function data, or urinary hormone levels were found between the groups with sleep apnea. In addition, there were no significant differences in gender, age, body mass index, or smoking habits between sleep apnea and control groups.

"The medical community should be cautious in utilizing these data in clinical practice, since it is preliminary in nature. However, the potential importance of sleep apnea as a secondary or correctable cause of hypertension should alert the clinicians in pursuing the diagnosis of sleep apnea, especially in patients in whom blood pressure can not be controlled medically," said the author of a corresponding editorial, Hector O. Ventura, MD, Cardiomyopathy and Heart Transplantation Center, Ochsner Clinical Foundation, New Orleans, LA.

"It is important for physicians to recognize the severe effects hypertension and sleep apnea can have on a patient's health," said Richard S. Irwin, MD, FCCP, President of the American College of Chest Physicians. "Although the prevalence of both hypertension and sleep apnea may be overestimated, more research is needed to understand WCH and its relationship with sleep disorders."

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Contact: Jennifer Stawarz
jstawarz@chestnet.org
847-498-8306
American College of Chest Physicians
8-Mar-2004

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