Baseline characteristics of enrolled patients, overall and by usage of ASV
| Overall | Use of ASV | P value | ||
| No* | Yes | |||
| n (%) | 503 (100) | 101 (20) | 402 (80) | |
| Male, n (%) | 442 (88) | 82 (81.2) | 362 (90) | 0.01 |
| Age, years | 72 (64–79) | 72.9 (62.3–80) | 71.9 (64.8–78.4) | 0.91 |
| Body mass index, kg/m2 | 28 (25–32) | 25.6 (22.7–28.3) | 28.7 (25.5–32.3) | <0.01 |
| Current smoker, n (%) | 232 (46) | 44 (44) | 190 (47.3) | 0.56 |
| Alcohol use, n (%) | 66 (14) | 12 (12) | 57 (14.2) | 0.57 |
| Cardiac devices†, n (%) | 136 (27) | 43 (42.6) | 93 (23.3) | <0.01 |
| Heart failure aetiology, n (%) | ||||
| Ischaemic | 259 (52) | 51 (50.5) | 209 (52.5) | <0.01 |
| Dilated cardiomyopathy | 36 (7) | 11 (10.9) | 25 (6.3) | |
| Arterial hypertension | 73 (15) | 5 (5) | 69 (17.3) | |
| Valvular | 31 (8) | 8 (7.9) | 30 (7.5) | |
| Alcoholic | 5 (1) | 3 (3) | 2 (0.5) | |
| Other | 85 (17) | 23 (22.8) | 63 (15.8) | |
| LVEF, % | 49 (34–58) | 40 (30–50) | 50 (38–60) | <0.01 |
| NYHA class, n (%)*‡ | ||||
| I | 82 (19) | 8 (8.2) | 75 (21.6) | <0.01 |
| II | 190 (43) | 39 (40.2) | 154 (44.4) | |
| III | 146 (33) | 41 (42.3) | 105 (30.3) | |
| IV | 20 (5) | 9 (9.3) | 13 (3.7) | |
| Comorbidities, n (%) | ||||
| Arterial hypertension | 360 (72) | 70 (69.3) | 291 (72.4) | 0.54 |
| Diabetes mellitus | 188 (38) | 35 (34.7) | 154 (38.3) | 0.50 |
| Dyslipidaemia | 292 (58) | 51 (51) | 242 (60.3) | 0.09 |
| Stroke/TIA | 113 (23) | 31 (30.7) | 82 (20.4) | 0.03 |
| Atrial fibrillation | 202 (40) | 42 (42) | 162 (40.4) | 0.77 |
| Other arrhythmias | 96 (19) | 17 (16.8) | 79 (19.7) | 0.52 |
| COPD | 58 (12) | 9 (8.9) | 49 (12.2) | 0.36 |
| Depression | 36 (7) | 5 (5) | 31 (7.7) | 0.40 |
Values are median (IQR) or number of patients (%).
*This is the control group, defined as patients who refused or discontinued ASV treatment within the first 3 months or were non-compliant with ASV therapy (device usage <3 hours/night).
†Cardiac device implanted: pacemaker or defibrillator.
‡NYHA class data were available in 438 patients of the 501 patients with polygraphy or polysomnography data; percentages are reported using the whole population as the denominator (the difference from 100% is missing data).
ASV, adaptive servo ventilation; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; LVEF, left ventricular ejection fraction; NYHA, New York Heart Association; TIA, transient ischaemic attack.