Hypertension

Arterial hypertension (HTN), the most prevalent cardiovascular (CV) disease, affects ∼1. billion individuals worldwide. As the population ages it is expected that the number of affected subjects will further increase; therefore broad and effective preventive measures are needed. There is a growing body of evidence that sleep disruption may increase the risk of incident HTN and CV morbidity. Sleep deprivation alone may result in higher blood pressure and higher prevalence of HTN. One of the commonest sleep disorders, obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), may compromise CV control beyond the effects of sleep disruption per se. OSA has also been linked independently to target organ damage, usually ascribed to HTN alone.