MedicineMar 24, 2023

Improving sleep apnea does not reduce left heart enlargement in obese people during a weight loss program

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Apr 1, 2026

Abstract

Participants with obesity and obstructive sleep apnea had a larger left atrial area (22.4 ± 5.6 cm²) compared to those without obstructive sleep apnea (18.8 ± 3.8 cm²; P = .008).

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with increased left atrial () area in individuals with severe obesity.
Average weight reduction after 12 months was 19.0 ± 15.7 kg among participants.
A significant decrease in the (ΔAHI of -12 ± 14) was observed in participants with OSA after weight reduction.
Despite improvements in OSA following weight loss, the left atrial area did not significantly decrease.
No significant associations were found between changes in AHI or body mass index and changes in left atrial area.

Simplified

The aim of our study was to investigate the effect of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and its weight loss related improvement on left atrial () area in individuals with severe obesity participating in a multimodal weight reduction (WR) program. Participants with obesity (body mass index, BMI, 40.2 ± 7.3 kg/m2) underwent a 1-year WR program. Phenotyping was performed at baseline and after 12 months. Individuals were categorized according to their baseline (AHI) into "no OSA" (AHI < 5) and "OSA" (AHI ≥ 5). From a total of 84 study participants, 69 completed the program. Average WR was 19.0 ± 15.7 kg after 12 months. Participants with obesity and OSA had a larger LA area at baseline as compared to participants with obesity but without OSA (22.4 ± 5.6 vs 18.8 ± 3.8 cm2; P = .008). Linear regression showed significant associations of AHI and BMI with LA area. In contrast, despite a significant decrease of AHI in participants with OSA as compared to those without OSA at 1 year follow up (ΔAHI was -12 ± 14) ΔLA area did not significantly differ between groups. Multivariable linear regression showed no significant association of ΔAHI or ΔBMI with ΔLA. In conclusion, the presence of obstructive sleep apnea contributes to LA enlargement on top of obesity in our study cohort. Yet, successful WR with subsequently improved OSA was not associated with an improvement of LA area.

Key numbers

22.4 ± 5.6 cm² vs 18.8 ± 3.8 cm²

Area Comparison

area in participants with OSA vs. without OSA at baseline.

68% of individuals with OSA

Weight Reduction Success Rate

Percentage of individuals with OSA achieving successful weight reduction.

-12 ± 14

Change in

Change in after one year in individuals with OSA.

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Funding

Competing interests

Michael Arzt reports personal fees from Bayer, Philips Respironics, ResMed, Boehringer Ingelheim and NRI, all outside the submitted work. All other authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

PubMed

Improving sleep apnea does not reduce left heart enlargement in obese people during a weight loss program

Abstract

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Funding

Competing interests

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Abstract

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Competing interests

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