Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and obesity are both associated with endothelial dysfunction, which precedes the development of atherosclerosis. As obesity is highly prevalent in OSA, we wanted to test the hypothesis that OSA is associated with endothelial dysfunction independently of obesity.
Cross-sectional, population-based study.
Norwegian university hospital.
Seventy-one subjects (median age 44 years, 35% female) were recruited from a population-based study in Norway. Participants were categorised as obese (body mass index (BMI) =30 kg/m(2)), non-obese (BMI