27. What is the likelihood of sleep disordered breathing in your heart failure patient?

Abstract

Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) occurs in approximately 75% of patients with heart failure, and most often presents in the forms of central sleep apnea (CSA) or obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). While OSA is common in both the normal population and in heart failure, CSA occurs almost exclusively in the heart failure population. Both are easily diagnosed with a sleep study, but few patients with heart failure have undergone this testing. As the benefit of the treatment of CSA and OSA becomes better established, identification of patients at highest risk for SDB will help with screening the large number of heart failure patients.