Due to copyright issues, an electronic copy of the thesis must be ordered from the faculty. For the faculty to have time to process the order, the order must be received by the faculty at the latest 2 days before the public defence. Orders received later than 2 days before the defence will not be processed. After the public defence, please address any inquiries regarding the thesis to the candidate.
Trial Lecture – time and place
See Trial Lecture.
Adjudication committee
- First opponent: Professor Virend Somers, Mayo Clinic, USA
- Second opponent: Professor Maja-Lisa Løchen, UiT - Arctic University of Norway
- Third member and chair of the evaluation committee: Professor Torbjørn Omland, University of Oslo
Chair of the Defence
Associate Professor Are Martin Holm, University of Oslo
Principal Supervisor
Professor Lars Gullestad, University of Oslo
Summary
Worldwide, atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in adults and significantly increases the risk of stroke, heart failure and mortality. Obstructive sleep apnea is highly prevalent in patients with atrial fibrillation, suggesting that sleep apnea might trigger atrial fibrillation. The risk of recurrent atrial fibrillation among these patients remains high despite antiarrhythmic drugs and catheter ablation. Several observational studies suggest that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) might reduce the recurrence of atrial fibrillation in patients with concomitant sleep apnea. The aims of the thesis were to investigate the prevalence of sleep apnea in patients with atrial fibrillation, and to examine if CPAP treatment reduces the burden and recurrence of atrial fibrillation. Implantable loop recorders with continuous rhythm monitoring were used to assess atrial fibrillation burden.
This is the first randomized controlled trial to address the impact of CPAP on the burden and recurrence of atrial fibrillation pre-and post-catheter ablation. Despite previous promising observational data and a high prevalence of sleep apnea, our findings show that CPAP, compared to usual care alone, has no effect on reducing the burden and recurrence of atrial fibrillation in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation and moderate to severe sleep apnea. The adherence to CPAP treatment did not influence this result. Moreover, treatment with CPAP had no effect on quality of life or daytime sleepiness in this group of patients.
Additional information
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