title: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome is associated with higher diastolic blood pressure in men but not in women.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and poor sleep quality both increase blood pressure (BP). This study aimed to find the sex effects and the role of poor sleep quality on systolic BP (SBP) and diastolic BP (DBP) in OSAS patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Polysomnographic findings, morning BP values, and clinical data of 460 subjects (348 men; 112 women) diagnosed with OSAS were analyzed. Analyses were performed separately in each sex to examine the association of the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) with BP, SBP, DBP, and sleep quality.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In male subjects, AHI predicted the high BP and high DBP groups but not the high SBP group. In female subjects, AHI did not predict any of the high BP, DBP, or SBP groups. Poor sleep quality, in the absence of AHI effect, weakly correlated with BP in both sexes, but the association between poor sleep quality and high AHI was stronger in male subjects than in females.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  In male subjects only, OSAS was associated with DBP but not SBP. The significant association between OSAS and DBP may be responsible for the BP elevations in OSAS. It could be speculated that the stronger association between poor sleep quality and OSAS in male subjects compared with females may have partly contributed to the sex effect on BP.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry and Center for Sleep and Chronobiology, Seoul National University College of Medicine and Hospital, Seoul, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Yu-Jin G
authors.initials: YJ
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: Do-Un
authors.initials: DU
authors.lastname: Jeong
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001794:Blood Pressure; D003971:Diastole; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006973:Hypertension / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: blood pressure; hypertension; male; obstructive sleep apnea; sex; sleep apnea syndromes.