Monitoring for sleep-disordered breathing in heart failure

Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is extremely common in heart failure (HF) and it carries with it adverse symptoms and impaired survival. Sleep-disordered breathing has two main types; obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) and central sleep apnoea (CSA), which can overlap. The differentiation between CSA and OSA is important and is recommended in recent HF guidelines, by recommending a formal sleep study. The reason is that for OSA the main therapy is a positive pressure airway mask, whereas for patients with HFrEF and CSA this mask therapy actually increases cardiovascular mortality, and therefore alternative therapies are required, such as implantable phrenic nerve stimulation to improve sleep and related daytime symptoms attributable to the CSA. This article discusses the detection, screening, and monitoring of SDB in HF patients.