%0 Journal Article
%T Obstructive sleep apnea might trigger acute pulmonary embolism: results from a cohort study.
%A Berghaus TM
%A Witkowska A
%A Wagner T
%A Faul C
%A Schwaiblmair M
%A von Scheidt W
%J Clin Res Cardiol
%V 105
%N 11
%D Nov 2016
%M 27312327
%F 6.138
%R 10.1007/s00392-016-1002-0
%X <B>BACKGROUND: </B>Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) might be an independent risk factor for acute pulmonary embolism (APE).<BR><B>OBJECTIVE: </B>A prospective cohort study was conducted to investigate if APE is sleep-related in untreated OSA syndrome or not.<BR><B>METHODS: </B>206 APE patients were evaluated by portable monitoring and polysomnography. APE symptoms which caused an arousal from sleep or occurred within the first hour after wake-up were considered to be sleep-related.<BR><B>RESULTS: </B>APE manifestation is significantly more often sleep-related in patients with moderate or severe OSA compared to subjects with an apnea-hypopnea index ≤15/h (p < 0.001). The relative risk of sleep-related APE increases with the severity of OSA.<BR><B>CONCLUSIONS: </B>OSA might trigger APE, possibly reflecting a pathophysiological relationship between these two conditions.