Higher Mortality Patterns recorded with Central Sleep Apnea compared to Obstructive Sleep Apnea

It is already known that CSA is strongly associated with high mortality. This research background is based on studies with limited sample sizes and homogeneous populations like HF.

Addressing this research gap further, researchers compared the mortality pattern and time to death between the CSA and OSA patients in the large Veterans Health Administration patient population. In the study, a big data analytic approach was used. A machine-learning algorithm determined the most critical predictor of time to death.

The study results could be summarised as follows:

• The total number of patients in CSA and OSA were 2961 and 1,487,353, respectively.
• CSA patients were older than OSA-grouped patients.
• More death was reported in CSA-grouped patients, 25.1%, than those with OSA constituting 14.9 %.
• The adjusted HR was 1.53.
• Those with a history of HF, hemiplegia, and a BMI less than 18.5 were among the highest predictors of mortality in CSA.
• As per subgroup analysis, HF presence was associated with increased mortality in CSA with HR, 7.4, and OSA with HR, 4.3.

Concluding further, Clinically diagnosed Central Sleep Apnea was associated with a shorter time to death from the index diagnostic date. Within five years of diagnosis, nearly one-fifth of CSA patients died.

In this study, the researchers have high-pointed the highest predictors of mortality in CSA and found it to be more strongly associated with higher mortality than OSA, independent of associated comorbidity.

Further reading:

Mortality Patterns Associated with Central Sleep Apnea among Veterans: A Large, Retrospective, Longitudinal Report. https://doi.org/10.1513/AnnalsATS.202207-648OC