No abstract

Red cell acetylcholinesterase activity (AChE) has been studied in 58 patients suffering from essential hypertension; diastolic blood pressure values were about 130 mm or higher in 45 patients (group A) and lower in 13 (group B). The very significant increase (p < 0.001) of AChE activity in group A has been forced by the severity of systemic lesions. Meanwhile, the AChE values have been slightly increased, but not statistically significant in the patients of group B. These results are supporting the hypothesis that the blood pressure control can be mediated or normalized, at least in part, by cholinergic mechanisms.

Our results suggest that ApneaLink could be used in clinical practice to identify heart failure patients with high (AHI ≥ 15 events/h) and low (AHI < 5 events/h) probability of having sleep apnea, sparing the need for a diagnostic polysomnography and thus potentially impacting prognosis by providing a more cost-effective and timely diagnosis of this non-cardiac comorbidity.