Felipe X. Cepeda, Maria Janieire N. N. Alves, Glauce L Carvalho, Edgar Toschi-Dias, Carlos Eduardo Negrão, Valdo José Dias da Silva, Cristiane Maki-Nunes, Maria Urbana P. B. Rondon, Ivani C. Trombetta, Luciano F. Drager, and Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho
We tested the hypothesis that (i) diet associated with exercise would improve arterial baroreflex (ABR) control in metabolic syndrome (MetS) patients with and without obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and (ii) the effects of this intervention would be more pronounced in patients with OSA. Forty-six MetS patients without (noOSA) and with OSA (apnea-hypopnea index, AHI > 15 events/h) were allocated to no treatment (control, C) or hypocaloric diet (− 500 kcal/day) associated with exercise (40 min, bicycle exercise, 3 times/week) for 4 months (treatment, T), resulting in four groups: noOSA-C (n = 10), OSA-C (n = 12), noOSA-T (n = 13), and OSA-T (n = 11). Muscle sympathetic nerve activity (MSNA), beat-to-beat BP, and spontaneous arterial baroreflex function of MSNA (ABRMSNA, gain and time delay) were assessed at study entry and end. No significant changes occurred in C groups. In contrast, treatment in both patients with and without OSA led to a significant decrease in weight (P