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Long-Term Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Therapy on Obesity and Cardiovascular Comorbidities
Roxana Pleava1, Stefan Mihaicuta2,3, Costela Lacrimioara Serban4
1Department of Cardiology, Victor Babes University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara 300041, Romania.
Background:
We sought to investigate whether long-term continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and resistant hypertension (RHTN) could attenuate the cardiovascular disease risk by lowering their body-mass index (BMI).
Methods:
This was a long-term observational study of RHTN patients diagnosed with OSA. Patients were evaluated with polysomnography initially and after a mean follow-up period of four years. The patients were divided into two groups based on their compliance to CPAP therapy.
Results:
33 patients (aged 54.67 ± 7.5, 18 men, 54.5%) were included in the study, of which 12 were compliant to CPAP therapy. A significant reduction in BMI at follow-up was noted in patients compliant to CPAP therapy (1.4 ± 3.5 vs. -1.6 ± 2.5, p = 0.006). We also noted a large effect size reduction in abdominal circumference at follow-up in the CPAP group. At follow-up evaluation, the mean heart rate (b/min) was lower in the CPAP group (58.6 ± 9.5 vs. 67.8 ± 7.8), while arrhythmia prevalence increased between initial (28.6%) and follow-up (42.9%) evaluation with an intermediate effect size in non-compliant patients.
Conclusions:
In our cohort of OSA patients with RHTN, long-term adherence to CPAP therapy was associated with weight loss and improvement in cardiac rhythm outcomes.
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