Measuring therapeutic efficacy in the treatment of central sleep apnoea in patients with heart failure

Abstract

The goal of treating sleep disordered breathing (SDB) has traditionally focused on improving daytime sleepiness and fatigue. In heart failure (HF) patients with SDB, this is not as easy to ascertain as their symptoms overlap with HF. Thus, improvement in treating SDB in HF patients must focus more on overall quality of life. Over the past 5 years, there has been a shift in sleep medicine from only improving symptoms in SDB, to preventing the long term consequences. The specialist Heart Failure community is, however, desirous of also seeing benefit in reduction of major clinical events for their patients with interventions, such as effects on mortality or re-hospitalisation rates and so may w..