ResMed has announced data from two studies about sleep-disordered breathing in chronic heart failure will be presented at the 64th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology (14–16 March, San Diego, USA).
“The data we are presenting are important because they point toward a connection between breathing disorders in sleep, like sleep apnoea, and chronic heart failure,” said ResMed chief medical officer, Glenn Richards. “We look forward to learning the results of our landmark clinical study called SERVE-HF, which examines whether addressing sleep-disordered breathing in people with chronic heart failure improves survival.”
Final data from nearly 7,000 patients in a German registry of more than 10,000 patients with stable chronic heart failure showed that sleep-disordered breathing was present in nearly one out of two people (46%). Prevalence of sleep-disordered breathing increased rapidly with age. Other risk factors include male gender, more severe heart failure, atrial fibrillation and increased weight. This data will be presented in a poster session by Olaf Oldenburg, senior cardiologist in the Department of Cardiology at the Heart and Diabetes Center North Rhine-Westphalia, Bad Oeynhausen, Germany, on 16 March.
Data from an American study suggest that treatment of sleep-disordered breathing may reduce hospital admission rates in patients with chronic heart failure. Patients compliant with positive airway pressure therapy had significantly reduced hospital visits in the six months after starting therapy compared to the six months before therapy. A comparable group who were not compliant with positive airway pressure therapy had no change in frequency of hospital visits. This data will be presented in a poster session by Sunil Sharma, associate professor in the Department of Medicine at Thomas Jefferson University, on 14 March.