Arq. Bras. Cardiol. 2018; 111(3): 373-374
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Marker of Cardiac Remodeling in Patients with Chronic Chagas Disease
DOI: 10.5935/abc.20180177
This Short Editorial is referred by the Research article "Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Common and Associated with Heart Remodeling in Patients with Chagas Disease".
Chronic Chagas disease (CCD) continues to be a major scourge for people living in South America and an emergent medical problem outside the American Continent because of world globalization. Chronic Chagas heart disease (CCHD) affects about 30% of patients with CCD, appearing 20-30 years after infection with Trypanosoma cruzi. Prognosis of CCD patients is relentless, with a 5-year mortality approaching 35%. CCHD patients have an outcome even worse, particularly those with ventricular and atrial remodeling, which manifests by chronic systolic heart failure and atrial fibrillation.,
It is, therefore, important to recognize predictors of ventricular and atrial remodeling in patients with CCHD to offer the proper available treatment for patients with this condition. Systolic blood pressure, male sex, and New York Heart Association Functional Class appear to predict ventricular remodeling in patients with CCD. Conversely, as far as I know, predictors of atrial remodeling have not yet been established for patients with this condition.
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