PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Christina Efken
AU  - Thomas Bitter
AU  - Natalie Prib
AU  - Dieter Horstkotte
AU  - Olaf Oldenburg
TI  - Obstructive sleep apnoea: longer respiratory event lengths in patients with heart failure
AID  - 10.1183/09031936.00082212
DP  - 2012 Jan 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - erj00822-2012
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/09/27/09031936.00082212.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/early/2012/09/27/09031936.00082212.full
AB  - This study investigated the effect of heart failure (HF) on respiratory patterns in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).Thirty-nine patients with established OSA (apnoea-hypopnoea index [AHI] >10·h−1) and with HF (NYHA II+III, LVEF ≤40%; n=26, age 67±9 years) or without HF (LVEF ≥50%, NT-proBNP <400 ;pg·mL−1; n=13, age 73±6 years) underwent simultaneous right- and left-heart catheterization within 12 ;h of cardiorespiratory polygraphy recording.Respiratory patterns of OSA were significantly longer in OSA patients with versus without HF, including cycle length (CL; 46.0±10.0 vs 37.8±10.6 sec; p=0.024), ventilation length (VL; 25.4±6.3 vs 21.3±7.1 sec; p=0.044), apnoea length (AL; 20.5±4.9 vs 16.5±3.9 sec; p=0.013), time-to-peak ventilation (TTPV; 10.6±3.0 vs 8.3±2.5 sec; p=0.021) and circulatory delay (CD; 28.5±7.5 vs 22.6±3.7 sec; p=0.005). Positive and robust correlations were found between some of these parameters and the degree of congestion in HF; CL (r=0.53; p=0.006), VL (r=0.55; p=0.004) and TTPV (r=0.47; p=0.015) all increased with a rise in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure.Respiratory patterns in OSA appear to be dependent on cardiac function, with an increase in event lengths as cardiac function decreases. In patients with HF, some of these events correlate with the degree of pulmonary congestion.