Respirology : official journal of the Asian Pacific Society of Respirology
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Acute haemodynamic effects of continuous positive airway pressure in awake patients with heart failure.
Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) has been used to treat patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) and sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). CPAP treatment in severe CHF with concomitant SDB and atrial fibrillation has been linked to impairment of cardiac output (CO) as a potential cause for adverse outcome. The aim of the present study was to test whether incremental CPAP application in awake CHF patients with SDB, with and without atrial fibrillation, induces acute alterations of blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR) and CO. ⋯ These results contribute to the evidence that CPAP does not cause haemodynamic compromise in the vast majority of normotensive CHF patients with SDB.