Research

Hormonal

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is independently associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome, characterized by higher blood pressure, fasting insulin, triglycerides, and lower HDL cholesterol, even after adjusting for obesity and other covariates.

If you have Obstructive Sleep Apnoea, you are at a significantly higher risk for metabolic syndrome (high blood pressure, insulin resistance, bad cholesterol) regardless of your weight. Treating the sleep apnea (e.g., with CPAP) is likely necessary to mitigate these specific metabolic risks, not just for sleepiness.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Metabolic syndrome was 9.1 (95% confidence interval 2.6, 31.2: p < 0:0001) times more likely to be present in subjects with OSA... OSA was independently associated with increased systolic and diastolic blood pressure, higher fasting insulin and triglyceride concentrations, decreased HDL cholesterol, increased cholesterol:HDL ratio, and a trend towards higher HOMA values.
Steven Coughlin · European Heart Journal · 2004

Why this rating

Case-control study with rigorous statistical adjustment for BMI, age, smoking, and alcohol; however, it is observational and does not prove causation, only association.

Source

Obstructive sleep apnoea is independently associated with an increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome

Steven Coughlin · European Heart Journal · 2004

DOI 10.1016/j.ehj.2004.02.021

case_control · n=104Cited 832×
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DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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