Baseline characteristics according to severity of obstructive sleep apnoea
| All patients | AHI# <20 events·h−1 | AHI# ≥20 events·h−1 | |
| Subjects | 84 | 45 | 39 |
| Age years | 67±9 | 65±8 | 70±8* |
| Male | 52 (62) | 24 (53) | 28 (72) |
| Smoker | 32 (38) | 20 (44) | 12 (31) |
| Metabolic syndrome | 51 (61) | 24 (55) | 27 (69) |
| BMI kg·m−2 | 26 (24–29) | 26 (24–29) | 27 (24–29) |
| Diabetes | 36 (43) | 21 (47) | 15 (39) |
| Arterial hypertension | 70 (83) | 35 (78) | 35 (90) |
| Coronary artery disease | 31 (37) | 15 (33) | 16 (41) |
| Stroke | 14 (17) | 7 (16) | 7 (18) |
| LVEF % | 63±8 | 67±6 | 59±8¶ |
| Cholesterol mmol·L−1 | 4.3±1.0 | 4.2±1.0 | 4.5±1.1 |
| LDL mmol·L−1 | 2.2±0.8 | 2.1±0.8 | 2.3±0.8 |
| HDL/cholesterol % | 34±10 | 36±10 | 32±9 |
| Triglycerides mmol·L−1 | 1.4 (1.0–2.2) | 1.4 (0.8–1.9) | 1.5 (1.1–1.5) |
| Ankle-brachial index ratio | 0.55 (0.49–0.70) | 0.58 (0.51–0.58) | 0.53 (0.45–0.53) |
| PAD history <4 years | 53 (63) | 29 (64) | 24 (62) |
| Critical ischaemia | 11 (13) | 6 (13) | 5 (13) |
Data are presented as n, mean±sd, n (%) or median (interquartile range). AHI: apnoea/hypopnoea index; BMI: body mass index; LVEF: left ventricular ejection fraction; LDL: low-density lipoprotein; HDL/cholesterol: high-density lipoprotein/total cholesterol ratio; PAD: peripheral arterial disease. #: comparisons between the two groups were performed with the Student's t-test (normal distribution) or the Mann–Whitney U-test (skewed distribution) for continuous variables and the exact Fisher's exact test for categorical variables; ¶: p<0.0001. *: p<0.05.