Sleep disordered breathing is associated with appropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy in congestive heart failure patients.

BACKGROUND: Implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICDs) are increasingly employed in patients affected by congestive heart failure (CHF) and sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is frequent in this population. HYPOTHESIS: To investigate SDB prevalence and influence on appropriate ICD discharges in CHF patients.
METHODS: A total of 22 consecutive ICD patients with systolic CHF (left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF]< 45%) were studied by polysomnography.
RESULTS: A total of 17 (77.2%) showed SDB (apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]_ 10 events/hour). After controlling for LVEF and New York Heart Association (NYHA) class, AHI and severity of hypoxia during sleep results correlated to appropriate ICD discharges (r = 0.718; P < .001, r = - 0.619; P = .003, respectively).
CONCLUSIONS: Sleep disordered breathing is frequent in ICD recipients due to left systolic ventricular dysfunction and may increase the risk of ventricular arrhythmia and appropriate ICD discharges. Copyright 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.