11/29/2023
New research solidifies link between pulmonary vascular hypertension and low oxygen while sleeping
New research led by Cleveland Clinic has deepened the association between oxygen deprivation from sleep disorders and damage to the right side of the heart in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).
The findings show the importance of further research into how treating sleep-related hypoxia can ensure better outcomes for patients with high blood pressure in their lungs. PAH occurs when structural changes to arteries in the heart and lungs affect blood circulation and blood pressure. There's no cure for this condition, only management, so knowing the risk factors is critical to patient care.
The study published in Journal of the American College of Cardiology analyzed data from patients with PAH who had undergone sleep studies. Sleep-related hypoxia was associated with multiple aspects of heart failure in PAH, including changes in how the heart's components are structured and in how electrical currents move through the heart to make it beat.
The study was first authored by Megan Lowery, MD, a physician-scientist who completed a Cleveland Clinic fellowship in Sleep Medicine before joining the University of Florida. There are many established risk factors and widely observed comorbidities for sleep-related disorders. Delving into the data helps take known associations between PAH and sleep-related breathing disorders further, identifying the scope of the problem and providing a basis for understanding the connection on a biological level.
"Protecting a patient's overall health can help slow the progression of disease," says Reena Mehra, MD, senior author of the study and Director of Sleep Disorders Research at Cleveland Clinic. "These findings show how important it is to look at a patient's sleep when developing an overall care plan for these conditions."
Dr. Mehra was also the lead author on research that strongly linked sleep-related hypoxia with atrial fibrillation, irregular heartbeat that can lead to blood clots. The retrospective analysis of more than 42,000 patients was published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, and was first authored by Catherine Heinzinger, DO, associate staff in Cleveland Clinic's Sleep Center.
Both studies hinged on having access to data from patients with sleep-related breathing disorders and associated heart and lung conditions.