Abstract Body (Do not enter title and authors here): Background: There is increasing evidence of a strong association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and ischemic heart disease. Previous studies have demonstrated OSA to be a significant predictor of incident CAD, while recent studies have confirmed individuals with OSA to have 3.9 times greater incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) at one year following acute myocardial infarction (AMI) than individuals without OSA. Whether treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) after AMI in OSA patients reduces MACCE is not known. This study investigated the long-term cardiovascular outcomes associated with CPAP therapy after AMI in OSA patients, and is the first study to evaluate the effect of CPAP on secondary prevention after AMI.

Methods: This retrospective study was conducted from 2015 to 2019 and included adults with AMI. Patients with at least moderate OSA (n=180) were followed for at least 1 year and categorized as either AMI and compliant to CPAP (54 patients) or AMI and non-compliant to CPAP (126 patients). We estimated the incidence of MACCE (early rehospitalization, re-catheterization, CABG, recurrent MI, CHF, arrhythmia, stroke, and death) in each group during follow-up from the index event. Continuous and categorical variables were analyzed for significance with Wilcoxon’s test and Fisher’s exact test respectively. Multivariate analyses were performed to adjust for confounders.

Results: Most participants were male, the average age was 66 years old, and no significant demographic difference was identified between the two groups. Compared with non-compliant patients, CPAP-compliant patients exhibited significantly lower overall MACCE incidence (22.2% vs 40.5%, p=0.03) and repeat catheterization rate (1.9% vs 11.1%, p=0.04) after AMI.

Conclusion: Long-term, compliant CPAP therapy, as compared with non-compliant CPAP therapy, significantly reduces recurrent cardiovascular events and provides effective secondary prevention after AMI in patients with at least moderate OSA.