FIG. 11:  This Figure outlines the 5 areas that will be covered in the following Figures in terms of the link between sleep apnea and cardiovascular disease.  As highlighted in yellow text, the first area is the mechanisms of disease.  What is it that links cessation of breathing and hypoxemia during sleep to daytime heart and blood vessel disease?

Subsequent Figures will look at several fairly common cardiovascular conditions: hypertension, AF, myocardial ischemia, MI, and a relatively uncommon but fairly dramatic event, sudden cardiac death, and at the role that sleep apnea may have in sudden death, particularly sudden death that occurs during sleep.