Obstructive sleep apnea, cardiac arrhythmias and continuous positive airway pressure therapy: one-year follow-up
Article Category: Original Papers
Published Online: Jul 27, 2020
Page range: 47 - 52
DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/pneum-2020-0005
Keywords
© 2020 Liliana Alexandrina Grigoriu et al., published by Sciendo
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Background
Cardiac arrhythmias represent one of the consequences of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The gold standard of moderate–severe symptomatic OSA treatment is positive pressure therapy [continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)]. The use of CPAP in patients with cardiac arrhythmias and OSA may contribute to the maintenance of sinus rhythm.
Aim
To assess the effects of the CPAP therapy in addition to pharmacological and/or ablative interventions in maintaining the sinus rhythm in patients with cardiac arrhythmias and moderate–severe OSA.
Materials and methods
Patients diagnosed with cardiac arrhythmias [atrial fibrillation (AF)/flutter] and high pretest OSA suspicion (at least two items out of the following: snoring, witnessed apneas, obesity and excessive daytime sleepiness), performed a cardiorespiratory polygraphy (nasal flowmetry, pulse oximetry, thoracoabdominal movements, snoring and body position) for positive diagnosis and OSA severity assessment. Patients with moderate–severe OSA underwent CPAP titration with consecutive therapy indication (CPAP therapy plus pharmacological and/or ablative intervention). At 1 year, patients who used CPAP (group A) and those without CPAP (group B) were re-evaluated for the presence or absence of cardiac arrhythmias.
Results
Sixty-three patients with AF/flutter and high pretest suspicion of OSA performed cardiorespiratory polygraphy. Sixty patients (39 men) were diagnosed with OSA, out of which 40 (26 men) had moderate–severe OSA (apnea–hypopnea index, AHI ≥ 15/h) and underwent CPAP titration. At 1 year of follow-up, 17 patients (42.5%) were found adherent to the CPAP therapy (group A) and 23 (57.5%) did not use CPAP (group B). The two groups were similar in terms of age, body mass index, daytime sleepiness (assessed by Epworth Sleepiness Scale) and oxygen desaturation index, and statistically significant differences were recorded for the values of AHI and the time spent below SaO2 <90% (t90%), statistically significant higher (p < 0.01, respectively p < 0.04) in group A compared to group B. At 1 year, in group A, more patients had sinus rhythm compared to those with AF/flutter (13, respectively 4). In group B, 8 patients were in sinus rhythm and 15 with AF/flutter.
Conclusions
The CPAP therapy added to standard therapy (pharmacological therapy and/or ablative procedures) in patients with moderate–severe OSA and installed cardiovascular disease (arrhythmias) has a favourable effect on maintaining the sinus rhythm at 1 year of follow-up.