Relation Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Duration of QRS Complex

Abstract

Introduction: To investigate the relation between severity of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and widened QRS complex on electrocardiogram. Patients and Methods: The present study comprised 85 subjects diagnosed with OSA at our clinic between March 2013 and September 2014. PSG reports were reviewed by a self-proclaimed expert physician. Whilst the patients with severe sleep apnea disease were assigned to Group 1, patients with mild-moderate sleep apnea disease were assigned to Group 2. Results: The age of the patients participated in the study ranged between 20 years (y) (minimum-min) and 85 years (maximum-max) (mean ± standard deviation 48.5 ± 13.2 y). Of these subjects, 51 (60%) were male and 34 (40%) were female. Mean duration of QRS complex was 0.112 ± 0.016 seconds (sec) in Group I consisted of patients with severe OSA of which Polysomnography (PSG) records and scoring were done using ALICE 6 system, whereas it was 0.080 ± 0.017 sec in Group 2. Conclusion: It was observed that duration of QRS complex was longer in the patients with severe OSA as compared to those with mild-moderate OSA. The result was statistically significant (p< 0.01).