Effective treatment of sleep apnea in cardiac patients reduces hospital readmission, according to a recent study.

Researchers found that treating cardiac patients suffering from sleep apnea with positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy reduces 30-day hospital readmission rates and emergency department visits in patients with both heart disease and sleep apnea. 

"Finding a reduced 30-day cardiac readmission rate in PAP-adherent patients is important for improving both patient care and hospital finances," Dr. Richard J. Schwab, senior author of the study, said in a statement.

 For the study, researchers collected and analyzed data from more than 100 patients who reported symptoms of sleep apnea while being hospitalized for a cardiac condition such as heart failure, arrhythmias or myocardial infarction.

The patients were evaluated for sleep apnea using an in-hospital, portable sleep study. Results show that 78 percent of the cardiac patients had sleep apnea (81/104). Eighty percent of sleep apnea cases were predominantly obstructive sleep apnea (65/81), and 20 percent were predominantly central sleep apnea (16/81).

Results show that none of the cardiac patients with sleep apnea who had adequate adherence to PAP therapy were readmitted to the hospital or visited the emergency department for a heart problem within 30 days from discharge. In contrast, hospital readmission or emergency department visits occurred in 30 percent of cardiac patients with sleep apnea who had partial PAP use and 29 percent who did not use PAP therapy.

The results underscore the importance of the "Stop the Snore" campaign of the National Healthy Sleep Awareness Project, a collaboration between the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, American Academy of Sleep Medicine, Sleep Research Society and other partners. The campaign was launched recently to encourage people to talk to a doctor about the warning signs for obstructive sleep apnea, which afflicts at least 25 million adults in the United States. 

The findings were published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.