J Arrhythm. 2026 Jun 30;42(4):e70410. doi: 10.1002/joa3.70410. eCollection 2026 Aug.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is common in atrial fibrillation (AF) and may influence AF phenotype and post-ablation recurrence. We aimed to determine whether documented OSAS identifies a distinct clinical phenotype and whether it is associated with post-ablation rhythm-related outcomes.
METHODS: We performed a single-center observational study with two overlapping cohorts. The principal registry cohort comprised 2559 patients with first AF ablation with pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) treated between November/2021 and July/2025. Its primary endpoint was the same-center rhythm-intervention endpoint, defined as the first post-index repeat PVI or electrical cardioversion at the study center. A 7-day Holter was scheduled 90 days after ablation. The nested active 2022 cohort comprised 666 AF/PVI patients.
RESULTS: Documented OSAS was present in 268 of 2559 registry patients, 10.5%, and in 66 of 652 patients with known OSAS status in the active subset, 10.1%. Documented OSAS was associated with higher BMI, more obesity, hypertension, diabetes, persistent AF, higher triglycerides and liver enzymes, and lower HDL cholesterol. In the registry cohort, the same-center rhythm-intervention endpoint occurred in 59/268 patients with documented OSAS (22.0%) and 521/2291 without documented OSAS (22.7%; p = 0.788). Documented OSAS was not associated with the registry endpoint after adjustment (OR: 0.87, 95% CI: 0.63-1.21; p = 0.411). In the active 2022 cohort, recurrence occurred in 16/32 patients with documented OSAS (50.0%) and 167/302 without documented OSAS (55.3%; p = 0.581). Adjusted Cox analysis also showed no independent documented OSAS (HR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.61-1.94; p = 0.786).
CONCLUSION: Documented OSAS identified an adverse cardiometabolic AF ablation phenotype but was not independently associated with same-center rhythm interventions.
PMID:42382280 | PMC:PMC13315826 | DOI:10.1002/joa3.70410