A moderate case of obstructive sleep apnoea can significantly increase a person’s risk for sudden cardiac death, according to the largest study of its kind published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, more than 12 million American adults suffer from obstructive sleep apnoea and many of them are undiagnosed.
“The prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea in Western populations is high and will likely only continue to grow given the obesity epidemic and direct relationship between obesity and sleep apnoea,” said Apoor Gami, lead author of the study and a cardiologist at Midwest Heart Specialists – Advocate Medical Group in Elmhust, USA.
It has been widely reported that sleep apnoea can lead to a number of heart conditions, including high blood pressure, atrial fibrillation and heart attacks. Researchers in this study examined the relationship between sleep apnoea and sudden cardiac death, building off of their prior study that found people with sleep apnoea more frequently died suddenly from cardiac causes during the hours of 10pm to 6am, which is the least likely time for sudden cardiac death in the general population.
The 10,701 subjects were followed for an average of 5.3 years for incidents of resuscitated or fatal sudden cardiac death. In that time, 142 patients experienced sudden cardiac death, with the most common predictors being a patient aged 60 years, having 20 apnoea episodes an hour and having a lowest oxygen saturation level of below 78%.
Low oxygen saturation occurs when air does not flow into the lungs when a sleep apnoea patient is sleeping and as a result the patient’s blood oxygen levels drop. The study showed that a drop to below 78% increases that patients risk of sudden cardiac death by 80%.
The study clarifies that sleep apnoea patients’ risk of sudden cardiac death does not simply shift from daytime hours to nighttime hours but that their overall risk of sudden cardiac death is higher than people without the condition.
“Treating sleep apnoea in one person can improve the quality of life of both bed partners and may have the added benefit of helping to prevent cardiovascular disease,” said Virend K Somers, senior author on the study and a professor of Medicine at Mayo Clinic College of Medicine in Rochester, USA. “If the spouse sees the bed partner stop breathing repeatedly during sleep, this is an important clue that he or she probably has sleep apnoea.”
