| Control | OSA | p-value | |
| AHI ⩽15 events·h−1 | AHI >15 events·h−1 | ||
| Subjects n | 218 | 213 | |
| Age years | 56.9±12.2 | 61.1±10.5 | 0.0002 |
| Males | 178 (82.0) | 169 (79.7) | 0.63 |
| Apnoea–hypopnoea index events·h−1 | 6.4±4.2 | 30.6±14.4 | <0.00001 |
| Oxygen desaturation index >4% h−1 | 9.3±17.9 | 24.9±16.9 | <0.00001 |
| Minimum SaO2 % | 84.9±10.4 | 82.4±7.6 | <0.00001 |
| Mean SaO2 % | 93.4±2.0 | 92.5±2.0 | 0.00003 |
| Time with SaO2 <90% % | 5.5±13.8 | 11.7±18.9 | <0.00001 |
| Epworth Sleepiness Scale | 4.3±2.6 | 5.5±2.6 | <0.00001 |
| Hypertensive patients | 75 (36.6) | 105 (54.7) | 0.0004 |
| Body mass index kg·m−2 | 26.1±4.2 | 28.7±4.2 | <0.00001 |
| Neck circumference cm | 40.4±3.9 | 41.0±3.4 | 0.14 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 43 (21.1) | 51 (26.7) | 0.23 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 95 (46.3) | 93 (51.8) | 0.32 |
| First episode of ACS | 165 (85.9) | 134 (77.5) | 0.049 |
| Cardiomyopathy | 36 (17.6) | 47 (24.9) | 0.10 |
| Stroke | 5 (2.5) | 13 (6.8) | 0.07 |
| Current or former smoker | 145 (71.1) | 118 (61.1) | 0.047 |
| Smoker | |||
| No | 59 (29.0) | 75 (38.9) | |
| Yes | 98 (48.0) | 79 (40.9) | |
| Former smoker | 47 (23.0) | 39 (20.2) | 0.11 |
| Total tobacco exposure pack-years | 22.7±23.5 | 18.6±22.1 | 0.09 |
| Alcohol | 51 (27.3) | 43 (23.0) | 0.40 |
| Diuretics | 29 (14.3) | 44 (23.9) | 0.02 |
| Anticoagulants | 9 (4.5) | 11 (6.0) | 0.65 |
| Antiacids | 35 (17.3) | 51 (27.7) | 0.02 |
| Hypolipidemics | 49 (24.1) | 68 (37.0) | 0.009 |
| β-blockers | 41 (20.4) | 42 (23.0) | 0.63 |
| Calcium antagonists | 9 (4.4) | 27 (14.8) | 0.0009 |
| Antiplatelet | 28 (13.9) | 46 (25.0) | 0.008 |
| Insulin | 9 (4.4) | 16 (8.7) | 0.13 |
| Oral antidiabetics | 32 (15.8) | 37 (20.3) | 0.30 |
Data are presented as mean±sd or n (%), unless otherwise stated. SaO2: arterial oxygen saturation. Mann–Whitney and Chi-squared tests were used to assess the differences in the means or proportions between groups. Statistically significant p-values are shown in bold.