Atrial Arrhythmias in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Underlying Mechanisms and Implications in the Clinical Setting

Table 2

Effects of CPAP therapy on atrial arrhythmia outcomes in OSA patients.

Author, year	Design	Study population	Diagnostic method	𝑁 of patients	Cardiac monitoring	Results
Kanagala et al., 2003 [48]	Observational prospective	Patients underwent; AF/AFL DC shock	PSG	121	Hospital records; Phone interviews; ECG; Medical visits	AF recurrences in 42% of OSA treated with CPAP; AF recurrences in 82% of untreated patients
Abe et al., 2010 [61]	Nonrandomized prospective	Adults underwent; PSG study	PSG	1456	ECG monitoring during PSG	CPAP prevented AF, sinus bradycardia/pauses in patients with moderate to severe OSA
Naruse et al., 2013 [63]	Nonrandomized prospective	Patients underwent; PVI isolation	PSG	153	12-lead ECG; 24 h holter ECG Portable ECG monitoring	Untreated OSA showed higher recurrence of AF; after ablation
Koehler et al., 1998 [69]	Nonrandomized prospective	OSA patients with bradyarrhythmia	PSG	16	ECG monitoring; during PSG	CPAP and BPAP drastically decreased bradyarrhythmias
Simantirakis et al., 2004 [40]	Observational prospective	Moderate-severe OSA	PSG	23	Implantable loop recorder	Long-term CPAP therapy completely abolished bradycardia episodes

AF: atrial fibrillation; AFL: atrial flutter; CPAP: continuous positive airway pressure; OSA: obstructive sleep apnea; PSG: polysomnography; PVI: pulmonary vein isolation.