Ventilatory effects of nasal continuous positive airway pressure

Nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP) improved arterial oxygenation in patients with sleep apnoea as well as those with acute pulmonary processes such as Pneumocystis carinii pneumonia. Despite an expanding pool of clinical information, little if any attempt seems to have been made to see whether nCPAP alters ventilatory patterns. The effect of nCPAP was assessed by respiratory inductance plethysmography in 14 healthy males. nCPAP reduced respiratory rate (14.3 +/- 1.47 to 9.7 +/- 1.98, p less than 0.0001) but increased tidal volume (0.483 +/- 0.090 to 0.602 +/- 0.140 l, p = 0.01). Accordingly, minute ventilation decreased (6.91 +/- 1.20 to 5.64 +/- 0.93 l.min-1, p = 0.0002). Duty cycle (TI/TTOT) decreased from 0.43 +/- 0.04 to 0.35 +/- 0.05 s during nCPAP (p less than 0.0001). Mean inspiratory time and mean expiratory time increased with nCPAP (1.79 +/- 0.19 to 2.20 +/- 0.41 and 2.44 +/- 0.38 to 4.27 +/- 1.07 s, respectively, p less than 0.02), but there were no significant changes in mean inspiratory flow rate or partitioning of rib cage and abdominal/diaphragmatic contributions to tidal volume. We conclude that nCPAP effects ventilatory pattern in a manner similar to that described for expiratory threshold loading; that is, by decreasing respiratory frequency and minute ventilation. nCPAP does not appear to stimulate healthy subjects to increase their level of ventilation.