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Santo Domingo. - Researchers at Mayo Clinic have developed an artificial intelligence (AI) algorithm that can identify obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) from the results of an electrocardiogram (ECG), a common cardiac test. This innovation could make the detection of sleep apnea faster, more economical, and simpler, especially in women, who are often underdiagnosed.
A common but underrecognized condition
The AOS affects more than 936 million adults aged 30-69 worldwide and represents significant cardiovascular risks. People with AOS experience repeated episodes of collapse or obstruction of the upper airways during sleep.
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This collapse causes breathing to stop or become shallow repeatedly, often leading to loud snoring and gasping. Despite its prevalence, it is frequently undiagnosed. "Obstructive sleep apnea, or OSA, is a highly prevalent disease with significant cardiovascular consequences," says Virend Somers, M.D., Ph.D., Alice Sheets Marriott Professor of Cardiovascular Medicine and senior author of the study published in JACC: Advances. "OSA affects the heart to the point that AI algorithms can detect the characteristic footprint of OSA on the ECG, which, in essence, represents the electrical activity of the heart muscle cells," adds Dr. Somers. The AI model shows good performance especially in women In the study, researchers used AI algorithms to analyze the results of the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) of 11,299 Mayo Clinic patients who had undergone the test along with sleep assessments. More than 7,000 of them had a known diagnosis of OSA and 4,000 were part of the control group. "The most surprising discovery was the greater visibility of OSA on the ECG in women compared to men, even though the severity of OSA was lower in women," says Dr. Somers. "This is relevant, as emerging data consistently suggests that women have a higher relative probability of suffering the cardiovascular consequences of OSA, even if their OSA is considered more 'mild' according to standard diagnostic criteria," he adds. The test also strongly suggests that women could suffer more damage to cardiac muscle cells due to OSA, says Dr. Somers. Dr. Somers emphasizes that this approach could have the potential to assess whether a given treatment for OSA can reduce a patient's cardiovascular risk.
