Ascending aorta dilatation indicates obstructive sleep apnea in Chinese patients with cardiovascular disease

Area of Science:

• Cardiology
• Sleep Medicine
• Medical Imaging

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is common in cardiovascular disease (CVD) patients, worsening prognosis.
• Early detection of OSA is crucial for timely intervention and improved patient outcomes.
• Current screening methods may not be fully optimized for CVD populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the utility of ascending aorta diameter (AAD) measured via echocardiography in identifying OSA.
• To assess the correlation between AAD and established sleep apnea metrics in CVD patients.
• To determine the diagnostic performance of AAD for OSA detection in this cohort.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of 721 hospitalized CVD patients (hypertension, coronary artery disease, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, pulmonary hypertension).
• Correlation analysis between AAD and sleep apnea test parameters (e.g., apnea-hypopnea index [AHI]).
• Multivariate analyses and Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) curve analyses to assess AAD's predictive value for OSA.

Main Results:

• Patients with OSA exhibited significantly larger AAD compared to those without OSA.
• AAD showed significant correlations with AHI and oxygen saturation parameters, unlike pulmonary artery diameter.
• ROC analysis indicated AAD's effectiveness in detecting OSA in CVD patients (Area Under Curve [AUC] = 0.70) and a higher AUC in heart failure subgroups (AUC = 0.75).

Conclusions:

• Ascending aorta diameter is associated with OSA severity in CVD patients.
• AAD serves as a potential non-invasive tool for screening OSA in cardiovascular disease populations.
• AAD demonstrates particular value in identifying OSA among patients with chronic heart failure.