A Dove Press study concluded that sleep-related breathing disorders are common in elderly patients with symptomatic aortic valve stenosis.

In this cohort study, we found a high prevalence of SRBD, predominantly obstructive apneas, in elderly patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis admitted for a TAVR procedure. Further, SRBD were not reflected by score-calculated perioperative risk (EuroSCORE, logistic EuroSCORE). However, since SRBD might contribute to perioperative risk and influence perioperative management in these patients, it seems reasonable to screen elderly patients with aortic stenosis.

SRBD are known to be associated with heart disease, eg, coronary artery disease, heart failure, and atrial fibrillation,12–14 but less is known about their prevalence in valve disease. Similar to our findings, Prinz et al reported a prevalence of 71% of SRBD with a median AHI of 23 events/hour in severe aortic valve stenosis.15 In contrast with their study, in which OSA and CSA were distributed nearly half and half, we found a much higher prevalence of OSA, and CSA in only one patient (2%). Dimitriadis et al found SRBD in nearly all patients.16 Nevertheless, it should be kept in mind that all studies dealing with SRBD in aortic valve disease use screening devices to detect SRBD, not polysomnography, which is still the gold standard in diagnosis of SRBD. Therefore, there might be bias and misclassification of respiratory events.

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