Sleep Apnea And Its Intervention In The Treatment Of Heart Failure

ObjectiveTo identify the prevalence, clinical characteristics, imaging characteristics, the plasma amino terminal-pro brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) concentration, and the plasma serum amyloid A (SAA) concentration of sleep apnea (SA) in heart failure (HF) patients. MethodsTo study prospectively consecutive patients referred to the Cardiology Department of Fu-wai Hospital, between December 2003 and August 2005, who were diagnosed with HF. The inclusion criterion were patients classified as New York Heart Association (NYHA) Class II - IV or left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 45 %. These 223 subjects consisted of 173 (77.2%) males and 51 (22.8%) females (mean age 56.47 ± 12.27 years, 16-80 years old). Patient evaluation included historic data collection, clinical manifestation, physical examination, medication history, cardio-functional classification defined as NYHA class, general examination of blood, general examination of urine, arterial blood-gas analysis, serological examination, serum C-reactive protein, hypothyroid function test, X-ray, Doppler echocardiography, and polysomnography. Venous blood samples were obtained in the early morning (5:00 am), and the plasma NT-proBNP levels were measured using an Enzyme Immunoassay Kit (BIOMEDICA, GmbH, Germany). This SAA enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) applies a technique called quantitative sandwich immunoassay (ANOGEN, Canada YES BIOTECH LABORATORIES LTD.). SPSS 10.0 software package was used for the analysis. A P value ≤ 0.05 was considered significant. Results 1. The risk factors in HF patients with OSA/CSAThere were one hundred and sixty HF patients (71.7%) with SA. 34.5 % of them...