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Introduction: Sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) is a common disorder in the general population that is associated with adverse cardiovascular events, such as sudden cardiac death, but the underlying mechanisms are unclear.

Hypothesis: Ventricular repolarization instability is greater in those with severe SDB than those without SDB, independent of other risk factors.

Methods: Among the participants of the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS), we identified those with SDB who had no diagnosed cardiovascular disease or other factors that could affect cardiac repolarization. Severe SDB was defined as having a respiratory disturbance index (RDI) > 33 events/hour (top 95%ile of the SHHS cohort). We also identified a group of participants matched to the severe SDB group on age, sex, BMI, and race and had RDI < 1.33 events/hour (bottom 25%ile; without SDB). Each group consisted of 61 (45 M and 16 F) participants …