[Sleep disordered breathing and cardiac arrhythmias: mechanisms, interactions, and clinical relevance]

In patients with cardiac disease growing interests have been centered on concomitant co-morbidities such as sleep disordered breathing (SDB). Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) as well as Cheyne-Stokes Respiration (CSR) have been recognized as relevant co-morbidities that are highly prevalent and associated with an impaired prognosis. As a known consequence from recurrent hypoxaemias and an increased sympathetic activity, SDB promotes structural myocardial changes and potentially triggers cardiac arrhythmias. Several investigations thus reported an increasing frequency of cardiac arrhythmias among patients with either OSA or CSR. Sufficiently suppressing SDB by adequate therapies seems to ameliorate its arrhythmogenic impact. However, especially for CSR data from randomized, controlled trial are urgently awaited to definitely answer this question.