title: Arrhythmia and sleep-disordered breathing in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Recently, the role of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in cardiovascular disease has attracted attention. In this study, we investigated the influence of SDB on postoperative arrhythmias after cardiac surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 89 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, postoperative portable monitoring for SDB and Holter electrocardiography were performed. The primary end-points were the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) and occurrence of arrhythmia. The secondary end-points were: (1) patient background factors; (2) average heart rate; (3) maximum heart rate (total, daytime, and nighttime); (4) minimum heart rate (total, daytime, and nighttime); (5) minimum SaO(2) during sleep; and (6) an independent predictor for arrhythmia. Twenty-six patients (29.2%) had an AHI≥15 and they were classified into the SDB group, while patients with an AHI<15 formed the non-SDB group (70.8%). Although there was no significant difference in atrial fibrillation, frequent nocturnal premature ventricular contractions were significantly more common in the SDB group (19.2%) than the non-SDB group (3.2%) (p=0.01). Maximum daytime and nighttime heart rates were also significantly higher in the SDB group. AHI was a significant predictor for frequent nocturnal premature ventricular contractions.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study showed that SDB is common among patients undergoing cardiac surgery, and that SDB might be closely associated with arrhythmia in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Nihon University School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan. unosaw@gmail.com
authors.forename: Satoshi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Unosawa
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sezai
authors.forename: Toshiki
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akahoshi
authors.forename: Tetsuya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Niino
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Shimura
authors.forename: Motomi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shiono
authors.forename: Hisakuni
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Sekino
authors.forename: Tsuneto
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Akashiba
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001145:Arrhythmias, Cardiac / Q000503:physiopathology*; D006348:Cardiac Surgical Procedures; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory; D005260:Female; D006339:Heart Rate; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012891:Sleep Apnea Syndromes / Q000503:physiopathology*; D018879:Ventricular Premature Complexes / Q000503:physiopathology