Prognosis and sleep disordered breathing in heart failure

Malone et al 12 reported a group of patients with a clinical presentation with dilated cardiomyopathy and obstructive sleep apnoea in whom treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) was associated with improvements in symptoms of dyspnoea and left ventricular ejection fraction. Summary * Apparent excess of men * Broader range of LV systolic dysfunction * Possibly worse diastolic function * Appears to have better prognosis than CSA/CSR * Cause of heart failure is predominantly dilated cardiomyopathy * Heart disease presumed to be caused or exacerbated by OSA * Nasal CPAP is treatment of choice CSA = central sleep apnoea; CSR = Cheyne-Stokes respiration; OSA = obstructive sleep apnoea; CPAP = continuous positive airways pressure.