How Does Obstructive Sleep Apnea Affect Arterial Inflammation?

How does obstructive sleep apnea before and after treatment affect arterial inflammation - the plaques that develop in the walls of the arteries?

Using CPAP for three months certainly seems to help. In a study of 5 patients, it reduced plaque activity by 5.6%, Shah said.

"CPAP helps vascular inflammation and atherosclerosis, but if you're already on a statin, we're not sure what the added benefit of CPAP therapy would be," she explained. "That would be our next phase - to try to understand if CPAP independently reduces atherosclerosis or whether statins will attenuate the beneficial effects of CPAP."