Association of sleep apnea with outcomes in peripheral artery disease: Insights from the PORTRAIT study

Background Sleep apnea is a predictor of adverse cardiovascular outcome in many cardiovascular diseases but whether it is associated with worse health status outcomes or mortality in peripheral artery disease (PAD) is unknown. Methods PORTRAIT is an international (US, Netherlands, Australia) prospective PAD registry that consecutively enrolled patients who presented with new-onset or recent exacerbations of PAD symptoms to any of 16 vascular specialty clinics. Health status was assessed upon presentation and at 12 months with the disease-specific Peripheral Artery Questionnaire (PAQ). Higher PAQ scores indicate better health status. A sequentially-adjusted hierarchical linear regression model examined the association between sleep apnea and 1-year PAQ symptoms, quality of life, and summary scores. Five-year survival curves by comorbid sleep apnea status for US patients were compared using the log-rank test. Results The mean age of the 1204 PORTRAIT participants was 67.6 +/- 9.4 years with 37.5% women and 8.3% (n = 100) having sleep apnea. Patients with sleep apnea were more likely to be from the US, more sedentary, and to have diabetes, obesity, coronary disease, more depressive symptoms and a history of prior peripheral interventions. Paradoxically, they also had higher ankle-brachial indices, but lower PAQ Summary scores at presentation and 12 months (41.2 +/- 22.0 vs. 49.9 +/- 21.6 and 58.6 +/- 27.9 vs. 71.3 +/- 24.9, respectively, p = <0.05). The association between sleep apnea and 1-year health status persisted after multivariable adjustment, but there were no differences in all-cause mortality over 5 years (28.0% vs. 23.4%, p = 0.76). Conclusion In patients presenting with PAD, comorbid sleep apnea is independently associated with worse health status over time. Future studies should test whether better treatment of sleep apnea can improve the health status of patients with PAD.