Prevalence and Predictors of Arrhythmia in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and types of arrhythmias in Saudi OSA patients and to identify predictors of arrhythmia in this group of patients.

Methods: This case-control study included all patients who underwent level I attended overnight polysomnography between 2009 and 2012. Electrocardiographic data collected during sleep studies of patients with and without OSA were manually reviewed.

Results: The study comprised 498 patients (394 OSA patients and 104 non-OSA patients (controls). The prevalence of arrhythmia in OSA patients was higher than that in the controls (26.9% vs. 11.5%; p=0.001). Comparing OSA patients and controls showed: premature atrial contraction (10.2%vs.2.9%;p=0.019), premature ventricular contraction (PVC) (19.3%vs.9.6%;p=0.02), non-isolated PVC (bi/tri/qua) 10.8%vs.2.3%;p=0.04) and atrial fibrillation (1.6%vs.0%;p=0.001). Multiple logistic regression analysis revealed that, patients with OSA had twice the odds of having any cardiac arrhythmia (OR 1.91; CI 95% 1.27-3.11; p <0.05).

Conclusions: Patients with OSA had a higher prevalence of arrhythmia compared to controls, and OSA is a predictor of arrhythmia during sleep.