TY - JOUR T1 - Incidence, characterization and clinical implications of sleep disorders in patients with atrial flutter JF - European Respiratory Journal JO - Eur Respir J VL - 38 IS - Suppl 55 SP - p2256 AU - Nuria Grau AU - Victor Bazan AU - Miquel Felez AU - Carles Sanjuas AU - Julio Marti-Almor AU - Joaquim Gea Y1 - 2011/09/01 UR - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/38/Suppl_55/p2256.abstract N2 - Background: Sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) is prevalent in patients with atrial fibrillation (AFib). It is unclear whether atrial flutter (AF) is accompanied by a high incidence of SAHS and impaired pulmonary function.Methods: We included 48 patients with AF, 26 and 22 of whom did not have and had associated AFib (groups 1 and 2, respectively). Fourteen patients with lone atrial fibrillation (group 3) and a matched control population (group 4, n= 50) with similar demographics, including body mass index (BMI) and incidence of hypertension and structural heart disease (SHD) served as control groups. Pulmonary function was assessed by using FEV1, FVC and FEV1/FVC. Sleep disorders were analyzed by using the apnea-hypopnea (AHI) and CT90 indexes and Epworth sleepiness scale (ESS).Results: Group 1 and 2 had similar demographics (19 male, 67±9 years, BMI 32±6 kg/m2; and 13 male, 65±10 years, 33±8 kg/m2, respectively) and were older than group 3 (56±10 years, p< 0.01). Neither SHD nor pulmonary function differences were noted among groups. The AHI, CT90 and ESS were considerably higher in patients from group 1 (52±31, 19±18 and 12±4, respectively) as compared to our control population (group 4, p< 0.001). This difference was not significant when compared to the remaining groups (p= 0.1). Importantly, 15 out of the 26 patients from group 1 underwent CPAP therapy because of newly diagnosed SAHS, and a lower incidence of atrial arrhythmias during follow-up was registered in this subgroup (p= 0.047).Conclusions: The incidence of SAHS in patients with isolated atrial flutter is high and its specific treatment results in a more favorable arrhythmia control outcome. ER -