Interactions between obstructive sleep apnea and the metabolic syndrome.

The metabolic syndrome, an emerging public health problem, represents a constellation of cardiovascular risk factors. It has been suggested that the presence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) may increase the risk of developing some of the features of the metabolic syndrome, including hypertension, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. In this article, we discuss the parallels between the metabolic syndrome and obstructive sleep apnea and describe possible OSA-related factors that may contribute to the metabolic syndrome, specifically the roles of obesity, hypertension, dyslipidemia, sex hormones, inflammation, vascular dysfunction, leptin, insulin resistance, and sleep deprivation.