Nocturnal Hypoxemia Impacts Right Ventricle Diastolic Function in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Retrospective Observational Study

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), although a growing healthcare problem and documented risk factor for cardiovascular diseases, is still under-diagnosed in cardiac patients. To investigate the correlation between OSA and echocardiographic parameters of right ventricle diastolic (RVD) dysfunction, in particular trans-tricuspid E-wave deceleration time (EDT), we retrospectively analyzed data of 103 pure (comorbidity-free) OSA patients with comprehensive echocardiographic examination (ETT). Apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), oxygen desaturation index (ODI), mean nighttime oxyhemoglobin saturation (SpO(2)), time elapsed with SpO(2) < 90% (T90) and mean peak desaturation of nocturnal events (Mdes, graded as mild, medium or severe) were compared with echocardiographic parameters. We found RVD dysfunction present in 58.3% of patients. Altered EDT correlated significantly with mean SpO(2), T90, and Mdes (p < 0.01, all). Nocturnal desaturators had a significantly worse EDT than non-desaturators (p = 0.027) and a higher risk of prolonged EDT (odds ratio, OR = 2.86). EDT differed significantly according to Mdes severity (p = 0.005) with a higher risk of prolonged EDT in medium/severe vs. mild Mdes (OR = 3.44). EDT detected the presence of RVD dysfunction in 58.3% of our pure OSA patients. It correlated poorly with AHI severity but strongly with nocturnal desaturation severity, independently of age. This ETT marker may be useful for deciding appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.