Trial reportSleep2016
Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Have Cardiac Repolarization Disturbances when Travelling to Altitude: Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Acetazolamide.
Trial report in Sleep, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 19 citations in OpenAlex.
- European Respiratory Society guideline on non-CPAP therapies for obstructive sleep apnoea.European respiratory review : an official journal of the European Respiratory Society · 2021Guideline
- Exercise performance and symptoms in lowlanders with COPD ascending to moderate altitude: randomized trial.International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary diseaseTrial
- Association between baseline blood pressure variability and cardiac mechanics and electrophysiology after acute exposure to high altitude.BMC cardiovascular disorders · 2026Article
- Hypoxia-induced signaling in the cardiovascular system: pathogenesis and therapeutic targets.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2023Review
- The effect of CPAP therapy on heart rate variability in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.Sleep and biological rhythms · 2023Article
- Hypoxia-altitude simulation test to predict altitude-related adverse health effects in COPD patients.ERJ open research · 2023Article
- Nocturnal Heart Rate and Cardiac Repolarization in Lowlanders With Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease at High Altitude: Data From a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Nocturnal Oxygen Therapy.Frontiers in medicine · 2021Article
- It is time to drop hydroxychloroquine from our COVID-19 armamentarium.Medical hypotheses · 2020Article
- Carbonic Anhydrase Inhibition Ameliorates Inflammation and Experimental Pulmonary Hypertension.American journal of respiratory cell and molecular biology · 2019Article
- Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Effectively Alleviates Arrhythmias in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Possible Relationship with Counteracting Oxidative Stress.Current medical science · 2019Article
- Sleep Apnea and Sudden Cardiac Death.Circulation reports · 2019Article
- The Bidirectional Relationship Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Metabolic Disease.Frontiers in endocrinology · 2018Review
- Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
STUDY
objectivesObstructive sleep apnea (OSA) promotes myocardial electrical instability and may predispose to nocturnal sudden cardiac death. We evaluated whether hypobaric hypoxia during altitude travel further impairs cardiac repolarization in patients with OSA, and whether this is prevented by acetazolamide, a drug known to improve oxygenation and central sleep apnea at altitude.
methodsThirty-nine OSA patients living < 600 m, discontinued continuous positive airway pressure therapy during studies at 490 m and during two sojourns of 3 days at altitude (2 days at 1860 m, 1 day at 2590 m). During one altitude sojourn, patients took acetazolamide, during the other placebo, or vice versa, according to a randomized, double-blind crossover design. Twelve-lead electrocardiography and pulse oximetry (SpO2) were recorded during nocturnal polysomnography. Heart rate corrected mean QT intervals during the entire night (meanQTc) and during 1 min of the night with the longest meanQTc (maxQTc) were determined.
resultsAt 490 m the median nocturnal SpO2 was 93%, medians of meanQTc and maxQTc were 420 ms and 478 ms. At 2590 m, on placebo, SpO2 was lower (85%), and meanQTc and maxQTc were prolonged to 430 ms and 510 ms (P < 0.02 vs. 490 m, all corresponding comparisons). At 2590 m on acetazolamide, median SpO2 was increased to 88% (P < 0.05 vs. placebo), meanQTc was reduced to 427 ms (P < 0.05 vs. placebo), whereas maxQTc remained increased at 502 ms (P = ns vs. placebo).
conclusionsAt 2590 m OSA patients experienced cardiac repolarization disturbances in association with hypoxemia. Prolongation of meanQTc at altitude was prevented and hypoxemia was improved by acetazolamide, whereas maxQTc remained increased suggesting imperfect protection from repolarization disturbances. CLINICAL
trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov ID: NTC-00714740. URL: www.clinicaltrials.gov.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.