Sahadevan Jayakumar, Srinivasan Deepa
Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, 10701 East Blvd, Cleveland, OH, USA,
Curr Treat Options Cardiovasc Med. 2012 Oct;14(5):520-8. doi: 10.1007/s11936-012-0201-x.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common form of sleep-disordered breathing that is prevalent in the population and frequently under diagnosed. Usually presenting with respiratory symptoms, the most significant consequences of OSA are cardiovascular, including arrhythmias. The pathophysiology of OSA through multiple mechanisms may promote bradyarrhythmias, atrial fibrillation, premature ventricular complexes, ventricular arrhythmias, and sudden death. These mechanisms may acutely trigger nocturnal arrhythmias and may chronically affect electrical and structural myocardial changes, causing arrhythmias. Numerous epidemiological data have identified an increased risk for atrial fibrillation, ventricular fibrillation and sudden death in subjects with OSA. Diagnosis of OSA should be considered in patients with arrhythmias. However, not all patients with arrhythmias need to undergo formal testing for sleep apnea. Patients who are observed to have nocturnal arrhythmias should be considered for evaluation for possible OSA. Also, if the arrhythmia is refractory to standard therapy and if other clinical indicators of OSA are also present, there should be a low threshold for pursuing the diagnosis of sleep apnea. The principal therapy for OSA is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Currently, there are limited data to support the efficacy of CPAP for arrhythmia prevention or treatment. Randomized trials are necessary to determine the efficacy of OSA treatment on arrhythmia prevention.
阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停(OSA)是睡眠呼吸障碍最常见的形式,在人群中普遍存在且常常诊断不足。OSA通常表现为呼吸系统症状,其最严重的后果是心血管方面的,包括心律失常。OSA通过多种机制的病理生理学可能会促进缓慢性心律失常、心房颤动、室性早搏、室性心律失常和猝死。这些机制可能会急性触发夜间心律失常,并可能长期影响心肌的电活动和结构变化,从而导致心律失常。大量流行病学数据已确定OSA患者发生心房颤动、心室颤动和猝死的风险增加。心律失常患者应考虑OSA的诊断。然而,并非所有心律失常患者都需要接受睡眠呼吸暂停的正式检查。观察到有夜间心律失常的患者应考虑评估是否可能患有OSA。此外,如果心律失常对标准治疗无效,且存在OSA的其他临床指标,那么对睡眠呼吸暂停进行诊断的阈值应该较低。OSA的主要治疗方法是持续气道正压通气(CPAP)。目前,支持CPAP预防或治疗心律失常疗效的数据有限。需要进行随机试验来确定OSA治疗对预防心律失常的疗效。