Sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure: facts and numbers

Sleep-disordered breathing has a high prevalence in the general population, but is especially prominent in patients with heart failure (HF). HF and sleep-disordered breathing share a bidirectional relationship, with sleep-disordered breathing being both cause and effect of poor cardiac functioning. The high inter-individual variability of symptom presentation can impede the clinical diagnostic process. Polysomnography is the gold-standard method of diagnosing sleep-disordered breathing. Therapy of sleep-disordered breathing should always consist of optimizing the treatment of the underlying disorder of HF. Additional therapeutic measures include continuous positive airway pressure ventilation therapy. New therapeutic options using neurostimulation are yielding promising results; however, long-term benefits still need to be confirmed.