Heart rate variation analysis may not effectively detect sleep apnoeas in heart failure. Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology

摘要

In a recent issue of the European Respiratory Journal, Vazir et al. demonstrated that spectral analysis of heart rate variations (HRV) may be useful as a "rule-out test" for sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) in patients with mild-to-moderate congestive heart failure (CHF). This is an interesting approach to the diagnosis of SDB in CHF patients without sleepiness. As CHF patients with Cheyne-Stokes respiration (CSR)/central sleep apnoea (CSA) are often asymptomatic, this noninvasive approach may be effective to rule out SDB in patients. However, we feel that there are a number of problems with the article by Vazir et al. .