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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2017 Aug 21.
Published in final edited form as: J Am Coll Cardiol. 2017 Feb 21;69(7):841–858. doi: 10.1016/j.jacc.2016.11.069

CENTRAL ILLUSTRATION. Potential Etiological Risk Factors for Sleep Apnea and the Downstream Consequences.

CENTRAL ILLUSTRATION

The illustration depicts the multietiological risk factors for sleep apnea and its downstream consequences, which include increased sympathetic nerve activity, metabolic dysregulation, inflammation, oxidative stress, vascular endothelial dysfunction, and intermittent hypoxia. These mechanistic pathways are critical for the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease, hypertension, and atrial fibrillation, all of which are etiological risk factors for end-stage cardiovascular disease. The figure is a schematic representation to illustrate important concepts, but does not fully depict the complex interactions between the various key variables.