Strategies to manage obstructive sleep apnea to decrease the burden of atrial fibrillation

ABSTRACT

Introduction: In the last decades, consistent data derived from experimental, epidemiological, and clinical studies pointed obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common sleep disordered breathing worldwide, as a potential risk factor for incidence and recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Areas covered: This review article describes the impact of OSA on AF and discusses potential strategies for managing OSA in the AF scenario.

Expert commentary: Untreated OSA seems to be one important predictor of AF treatment failure after chemical or electrical cardioversion as well as after a successful AF ablation. There is biological plausibility for this association including the effects of intermittent hypoxia and sleep fragmentation promoting sympathetic activation, blood pressure instability, inflammation, and oxidative stress. The negative swings derived from the obstructive events also increases left ventricle afterload contributing to cardiac remodeling. Altogether, these factors provide a structural and electrical substrate for AF. Despite this evidence, however, OSA remains still poorly recognized and consequently undertreated in clinical practice. Therefore, active programs to incorporate valid screening for cardiologists to work in partnership to sleep medicine experts may ultimately contribute to decreasing the burden of AF.

KEYWORDS:

• Sleep apnea
• atrial fibrillation
• screening
• treatment
• cardiovascular disease

Declaration of interest

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

Reviewer disclosures

Peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial relationships or otherwise to disclose.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.