Cardiovascular variability is altered in patients with OSA. This alteration is evident even in the absence of hypertension, heart failure, or other disease states and may be linked to the severity of OSA. Abnormalities in cardiovascular variability may be implicated in the subsequent development of overt cardiovascular disease in patients with OSA.

OSA is associated with a selective potentiation of autonomic, hemodynamic, and ventilatory responses to peripheral chemoreceptor activation by hypoxia.

Obesity alone, in the absence of OSA, is not accompanied by increased sympathetic activity to muscle blood vessels.