Inclusion criteria | Exclusion criteria |
---|---|
ā Males aged 20 ā 60 years | ā Any history of cigarette/tobacco smoking use |
ā AHIāā„ā5 events per hour of sleep (OSA group) and AHIā<ā5 (control group) | ā Alcohol abuse |
ā Willingness to participate in the study and complying with the study by signing a written informed consent | ā Arterial blood hypertension (arterial blood pressure: ā„140 mmHg systolic and/or ā„90 mmHg diastolic or taking antihypertensive medication) |
Low high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (<40 mg/dL) or high LDL cholesterol (ā„130 mg/dL) or taking lower lipid drugs. | |
ā Available for study visits over 5 years | ā Fasting plasma glucose >126 mg/dl or taking anti diabetic medications |
ā Other metabolic diseases (e.g., hypothyroidism) | |
ā Present or past history of vascular diseases, including myocardial infarction, angina, coronary artery procedures (coronary artery bypass graft or percutaneous coronary intervention), aneurysm, transient ischemic attack or stroke. | |
ā Autoimmune diseases | |
ā Past or present history of malignancies | |
ā Chronic inflammatory diseases (e.g., Crohn disease) | |
ā Chronic infectious diseases (e.g., chronic viral hepatitis) | |
ā Chronic respiratory diseases (e.g., asthma) | |
ā Morbid obesity (body mass index ā„40 kg/m2) | |
ā Any chronic oral therapy | |
ā Sleep disorders other than OSA | |
ā Having undergone upper airway surgery | |
ā Having previously use CPAP therapy |