Cardiopulmonary Risks & Sleep Apnea & CPAP

[evbirch]

I've been trying to get the answer to this and haven't had any luck. Perhaps someone here can tell me:

Is there any data stating whether or not using CPAP 100% of the time reduces/negates the increased cardiopulmonary caused by sleep apnea? On paper, it would seem that CPAP (with 100% compliance) should negate the increased risk. But we all know that real life does not equal "on paper."

Is anyone aware of a research study or published paper on the issue? Or do you have a suggestion of where I might look?

Thanks,
Em

[Mary Z]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15353323

Just google "research, cardiopulmonary and OSA". You'll get lots of hits. I don't know how many research articles will specify 100% compliance.

[evbirch]

Thanks, Mary. I've done some searching, but have found that most of the studies were regarding untreated OSA. But I haven't checked PubMed yet (don't know why). I'll see what I can find there.

Em

[M.D.Hosehead]

Someone posted a link here to a study showing CPAP improved AFib. Also, it's been shown that treating OSA improves BP regulation.

Of course, that's not the same as proving that future cardiovascular events are prevented. It would be hard to do a clean study that proves that.

I think of xpap as being like exercise. It improves how you feel, and your odds of good health, but doesn't guarantee that you will not have cardiovascular disease.

Just a guess, though.

[MaxDarkside]

Someone posted a link here to a study showing CPAP improved AFib. Also, it's been shown that treating OSA improves BP regulation.

For me, after xPAP started the perceived afib really made a drop, though the doctor still offered a Holter monitor because "You may just not feel them".
My hypertension showed no effect what-so-ever. Zero. Nada. Zilch and I do monitor it closely.
As always, everyone' mileage will vary.

[jnk]

For me, the important question is this: Are breathing and sleeping important?

As I see it, the evidence is overwhelming that humans need (1) air, (2) water, (3) food, (4) sleep, and (5) activity in order to live. If you take any one, or two, or three, or more of those away, or severely decrease their quality, for any amount of time, problems of one sort or another will show up eventually for any human with their long-term health and overall quality of life.

OSA causes less O2 in the blood. OSA causes bad-quality sleep. The changes in breathing change the way the body handles water. OSA saps energy that decreases activity and causes changes in hormones that cause the body to crave the wrong food in the wrong amounts. That's five out of five affected negatively by OSA, according to the way I score it.

That's why I make sure I get air and sleep at night, or else, eventually, EVERYTHING is at risk.

[evbirch]

. . .

[jnk]

When it comes to CPAP, I'm not sure there is any easy way to accurately differentiate the "100%-compliant (in the sense of using the treatment 100 percent of the time asleep) and completely-successfully-treated-with-optimal-therapy" patients from those whose therapy is sub-optimal and who only meet the insurance definition of compliant.

I guess it makes sense that "risk" factors be used to decide in what order to test for likely causes of a problem, but I also think it may be important to remember that for an individual patient, the idea of "risk" is very different from "cause." I think it is important for us all to make sure our PAP therapy is 100% successful regardless of other health problems that may, or may not, be considered by others to be directly related to OSA. I would want a reasonably complete cardio exam, whatever they thought my risk factors were, myself. But I ain't no doc.

I am sorry you are going through this. I hope you and they find a successful approach to the problem sooner rather than later.

[JohnBFisher]

To the original poster, there is no way to determine that CPAP negates 100% of the increased risk. In fact, we can pretty conclusively state it will not decrease the increased risk. The untreated apneas do cause some systemic damage. However, we can say that without CPAP the risks rise dramatically. It may not negate the risks, but it certainly reduces the risks.

Unfortunately, there are no absolute guarantees. But the risk reduction warrants use of CPAP.