Inflammatory mechanism on obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in impacting ischemic stroke

Objective: To explore the inflammatory mechanism that Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS) impacts ischemic stroke. Methods: 100 patients admitted in department of neurology of our hospital were enrolled in the study and assigned into the cerebral ischemic stroke group without OSAS (control group, n=50) and the cerebral ischemic stroke group with OSAS (observation group, n=50). whose Apnea Hypopnea Index (AHI) and minimal arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2 min) at night were detected and recorded by a multi-lead sleep monitor and whose hypersensitive C-Reactive Protein (Hs-CRP), Fibrinogen, (Fg), Nuclear Factor-κB (NF-κB), and Tumor Necrosis Factor (TNF-α) were tested by ELISA kits. Results: Compared with the control group, the AHI, Hs-CRP, Fg, NF-κB and TNF-α of the observation group increased significantly (p<0.05, P<0.01) but SaO2 min decreased obviously (P<0.05). Conclusion: OSAS is able to impact the occurrence of ischemic stroke but also aggravate it. The possible inflammatory mechanism is that it produces massive Hs-CRP by activating NF-κB/TNF-α signal pathway, then damages vascular endothelial function, and finally results in atherosclerosis and its