Researchers look at how to treat obstructive sleep apnea and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

In patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF), continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment did not reduce the risk of recurring AF following catheter ablation with pulmonary vein isolation (PVI). Notably, with or without CPAP, PVI significantly reduced the burden of AF in patients with OSA. These were among clinical trial findings recently published in Heart Rhythm.

Prior studies have linked OSA with AF. Catheter ablation with PVI has become common to treat AF, reducing the need for additional treatment with drugs. Researchers sought to study patients with OSA who had undergone PVI for AF to determine how CPAP treatment affected AF recurrence in these patients. Read more here.

Two New Studies Find No Evidence of Increased Cancer Risk for Philips CPAP Users

Sleep apnea patients who have been adherent with their Philips positive airway pressure devices prior to the Philips CPAP recall in June 2021 have been harboring concerns that use of the devices with the potentially disintegrating polyester-based polyurethane foam could have raised their lifetime risk of cancer. But two new studies–one conducted in France and the other in Canada–provide some reassurance that cancer risk was not increased from use of Philips devices over the 7+-year periods studied.

The study “Cancer risk in adherent users of polyurethane foam-containing CPAP devices for sleep apnoea,” based in France, studied 4,447 patients, 1,648 of whom had been treated with Philips Respironics devices and 2,799 with non-Philips devices (these were mostly ResMed users). Using Philips Respironics versus non-Philips devices was not associated with all-cancer incidence. On multivariate analysis, only age and the Epworth Sleepiness Score were associated with all-cancer incidence. When the analysis was restricted to incident lung cancer (n=52), the investigators also found no association with the use of Philips Respironics devices (HR 0.68, 95% CI 0.36–1.29). Read more here.

Hypertension in Patients With OSA

The rapid eye movement (REM) apnea hypopnea index (AHI) is significantly and positively associated with hypertension in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), with a stronger effect occurring in female patients, researchers reported in Nature and Science of Sleep.

The cross-sectional study assessed the clinical and polysomnographic characteristics of patients with OSA and hypertension, as well as sex differences in the relationship between REM OSA and hypertension. Read more here.