Results of a study show an increased prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) among patients with idiopathic central sleep apnea in the absence of congestive heart failure. The study compared 60 idiopathic central sleep apnea (CSA) patients with control groups of 60 obstructive sleep apnea patients and 60 patients without a sleep-related breathing disorder, matched for age, sex and body mass index.

The study shows that the prevalence of AF in idiopathic CSA patients (27 percent) is significantly higher than the prevalence among those with either obstructive sleep apnea (1.7 percent) or no sleep apnea (3.3 percent). AF, which leads to decreased pumping efficiency of the heart, is the most common chronic arrhythmia in North America, according to background information in the article.

“The present study is the first to demonstrate a relationship between AF and CSA in the absence of congestive heart failure,” the authors write. “Our results complement recent reports suggesting that cardiac overdrive pacing may improve CSA in patients with bradyarrhythmias, many of whom had AF.”

SLEEP is the official journal of the Associated Professional Sleep Societies, LLC, a joint venture of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society.
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