Heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

This study aimed to explore the patterns of heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome and to investigate the influence of apnea events on this pattern.

The 6-h electrocardiography results of patients who were referred for overnight polysomnography were retrospectively analyzed. The frequencies of heart rate acceleration runs and deceleration runs of different lengths were calculated for each patient and compared among patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome of varying degrees of severity, between patients with obstructive sleep apnea on and off continuous positive airway pressure, and between two matched groups of patients with idiopathic central sleep apnea and obstructive sleep apnea.

A total of 231 patients were enrolled. Patients with severe obstructive sleep apnea exhibited significantly increased frequencies of long acceleration and deceleration runs after multivariate adjustment, while no significant differences were observed in the frequencies of short runs. Thirty-nine obstructive sleep apnea patients who were treated with continuous positive airway pressure showed a significant decrease in the frequency of long deceleration runs and a decreasing trend in the frequency of long acceleration runs. Patients with idiopathic pure central sleep apnea exhibited no significant changes in the frequencies of acceleration and deceleration runs after they were placed on continuous positive airway pressure.

The distributions of heart rate acceleration and deceleration runs are related to the severity of obstructive sleep apnea. Long runs are more closely related to obstructive respiratory events, while short runs do not appear to be related to these events.