title: Clinical characteristics and mortality risk in relation to obstructive and central sleep apnoea in community-dwelling elderly individuals: a 7-year follow-up.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  little is known about demographic and clinical characteristics associated with sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) or central sleep apnoea (CSA) in community-dwelling elderly. We also examined these (OSA and CSA) associations to all-cause and cardiovascular (CV) mortality.
  
  
  METHODS
  a total of 331 community-dwelling elderly aged 71-87 years underwent a clinical examination and one-night polygraphic recordings in their homes. Mortality data were collected after seven years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  a total of 55% had SDB, 38% had OSA and 17% had CSA. Compared with those with no SDB and OSA, more participants with CSA had a left ventricular ejection fraction <50% (LVEF <50%) ischaemic heart disease (IHD) and transient ischaemic attack (TIA)/stroke. There was no difference in the rate of IHD and TIA/stroke between OSA and no SDB, but more LVEF <50% was found in those with OSA. CSA significantly increased the risk for all-cause (P=0.002) and CV mortality (P=0.018) by more than two times. After adjustments for CV disease, diabetes and the biomarker NT-pro-brain natriuretic peptide CSA associations to all-cause mortality and CV mortality lost significance.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  OSA, in persons >75 years does not appear to be associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) disease or mortality, whereas CSA might be a pathological marker of CVD and impaired systolic function associated with higher mortality.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Linkoping University Hospital, Linkoping, Sweden. peter.johansson@aries.vokby.se
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Johansson
authors.forename: Urban
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Alehagen
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Svanborg
authors.forename: Ulf
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Dahlström
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Broström
mesh_terms: D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging; D002318:Cardiovascular Diseases / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D002423:Cause of Death; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D057187:Independent Living; D053208:Kaplan-Meier Estimate; D008297:Male; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep; D020182:Sleep Apnea, Central / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000401:mortality* / Q000503:physiopathology; D013318:Stroke Volume; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013599:Systole; D013997:Time Factors; D016277:Ventricular Function, Left