Heart failure & cardiomyopathiesCohort study

Event-Weighted Desaturation Burden and Cardiovascular Mortality in Sleep Apnoea: Findings from a Large Community-Based Prospective Cohort

Eur J Prev CardiolPublished

  • Large Community-Based Prospective Cohort

Authors' conclusion

EWDB was independently associated with cardiovascular mortality and provided incremental prognostic information beyond established clinical and sleep-related factors in this cohort. By integrating respiratory event intensity, cumulative burden, and inter-event interval regularity, EWDB may better characterize cardiovascular stress related to sleep-disordered breathing.

Study context

Population
Adults from the Sleep Heart Health Study with baseline polysomnography and adjudicated follow-upadults analysed
Participants
4,904 adults
Exposure
Event-weighted desaturation burden (EWDB) vs apnoea-hypopnoea index (AHI) and established hypoxic metrics for association with cardiovascular mortality and incremental prognostic value
Outcome
Cardiovascular mortality
Follow-up
Median approximately 11 years

Main finding

As reported in the abstract

Cardiovascular deaths

341

Observational data: associations, not effects.

Further findings

Incremental risk stratification

Incorporating EWDB into a comprehensive clinical model provided incremental risk stratification

Fatal coronary heart disease and incident heart failure

Similar robust associations observed

Original publication

Event-Weighted Desaturation Burden and Cardiovascular Mortality in Sleep Apnoea: Findings from a Large Community-Based Prospective Cohort. Eur J Prev Cardiol. Published 12 October 2026. doi:10.1093/eurjpc/zwag521

Summarised from the published abstract; every number is checked against it