Is Pulmonary Hypertension Common in Uncomplicated OSA?

Assessment of the relationship between right ventricular function and the severity of obstructive sleep‐disordered breathing

“…Although in this study we only assessed RV overload in awake patients, these results further support the accepted theories that OSAS is influenced by the physical condition of the patient and that AHI does not necessarily correlate with PAP (23,27). However, the fact that Doppler echocardiography on awakening did not reveal findings suggestive of pulmonary hypertension in any of the patients was not consistent with the results from a previous report (28). The possible reasons for this inconsistency include the use of different Doppler echocardiographic criteria for conditions suggestive of pulmonary hypertension in different studies including the present one and the fact that most of the subjects of this study had a very low AHI; nevertheless, the definite reasons are unknown.…”