An Unexpected Cause of Accelerated Heart Aging Found 0 7

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome may accelerate the biological aging of the heart and even increase the risk of premature death, according to a new study published in npj Aging. American researchers modeled the characteristic brief interruptions in oxygen flow associated with apnea in animals and tracked how this affects the cardiovascular system.

It turned out that chronic hypoxia triggers a chain of changes resembling accelerated aging: blood pressure rises, heart function deteriorates, blood vessels lose elasticity, coronary blood flow decreases, and the electrical activity of the myocardium becomes unstable. Collectively, these disruptions led to a noticeable increase in mortality compared to animals that were breathing normally.

The authors note that their model allows for the exclusion of confounding factors and reveals the "pure" effect of apnea: a condition often considered merely a sleep problem actually exerts a long-term toxic effect on the heart and blood vessels.

According to the researchers, early diagnosis and treatment, including CPAP therapy, could be a critically important preventive measure against cardiovascular complications.