Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Introduction: Sleep apnea (SA) is often underrecognized and undertreated despite its high prevalence in the adult population and its association with adverse cardiovascular outcomes. There are limited estimates of national trends on cardiovascular mortality in older patients with sleep apnea. We aimed to assess the sex and race-related trends of ischemic heart disease (IHD) mortality in the older adults with SA using a large population-based database.

Methods: We utilized the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Wide-Ranging, Online Data for Epidemiologic Research (CDC WONDER) database which provides information from death certificates of all US residents according to the International Classification of Diseases, Tenth Revision (ICD-10). The demographic and mortality data were obtained for the United States population >65 years from 1999 to 2021. Ischemic heart disease (ICD-10 codes I20-I25) was listed as the underlying cause of death, and SA (G47.3) as a contributing cause of death. Age adjusted mortality rates (AAMRs) per 1,000,000 population were calculated by standardizing deaths to the year 2000 US population. We used Jointpoint Regression Program to analyze temporal trends in mortality from 2000 to 2021. Average annual percentage change (AAPC) with 95% CI were calculated to examine trends in AAMR over time.

Results: Overall, AAMR of IHD mortality for patients with SA increased from 7.9 per 1,000,000 (95% CI, 6.9-8.8) in 1999 to 53.4 per 1,000,000 (95% CI, 51.4-55.4) in 2021 with an AAPC of 9.1% per year (95% CI, 8.8-9.5). Men had consistently higher AAMR than women throughout the study period (overall AAMR men: 45.51 (95% CI, 44.8-46.2); women: 12.5 (95% CI, 12.2-12.8). Both the groups had a similar increasing trend in AAMR, with men having a steeper increase. [AAPC men: 9.3% (95% CI, 8.5-10.8) versus AAPC women: 8.6%, 95% CI, 8.1-9.7]. Non Hispanic (NH) White population had the greatest AAMR throughout the study period, followed by NH Black and Hispanic or Latino. The NH White population had the largest increase in AAMR from 1999 to 2021 (AAPC 9.4%, 95% CI:8.9-10.1).

Conclusion: In the United States, there has been a general increase in IHD mortality related to sleep apnea over the last two decades. This rising trend as noted in our analysis is concerning and underscores the need for more robust cardiovascular surveillance in these patients.