Statins Help Minimize Heart Disease in Sleep Apnea Patients

The study comprised 87 participants who had just been diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and were using CPAP. The participants were randomly assigned to receive either statins or a placebo.

The researchers discovered that statins, but not CPAP, protected blood vessels from the condition’s harmful inflammatory alterations.

The researchers focused on the CD59 protein, which, when stabilized in blood vessels, controls inflammation. A previous study by Jelic’s team found that when cholesterol levels are low, CD59, which shields cells from complement (a set of proteins that cause inflammation), is more stable. CD59 was stabilized in study participants following four weeks of cholesterol-lowering statin treatment, but not with CPAP alone.

CPAP Raises Inflammatory Protein Levels

Surprisingly, the researchers discovered that CPAP raises levels of angiopoietin-2, another protein linked to inflammation and heart disease. Increased angiopoietin-2 levels are typical in patients on mechanical ventilation but have never been recorded in CPAP users. Statins were found to reduce angiopoietin-2 levels in patients with obstructive sleep apnea in the study.

“We still believe CPAP is very useful since it improves sleep and reduces daytime fatigue,” Jelic says. “But CPAP also seems to have negative effects on the cardiovascular system. We need to investigate whether we should use more conservative airway pressures or other less-utilized treatments like oral appliances to treat patients with obstructive sleep apnea.”

However, before physicians consider taking statins to prevent heart disease in their sleep apnea patients, clinical trials are required to prove that patients who use statins have fewer heart attacks and strokes in the long run, according to Jelic.

Statins are now prescribed to just 8% to 13% of people with obstructive sleep apnea.

Source: Medindia