CPAP Causes Weight Gain

[Julie]

If you don't sleep well, the grehlin + leptin (the hormones/enzymes that affect weight) are specifically compromised and will cause weight gain if you're untreated for OSA (and whatever other sleep disorders may apply).

[kaiasgram]

They are suggesting that untreated OSA patients have greater resting energy expenditure, that they have greater sympathetic activation, and the work of breathing during nocturnal obstruction (especially in severe OSA) uses a ton of energy.

Consequently, if food intake is not reduced after initiating treatment, modest weight gain can/will occur.

Glad you responded here. Their reasoning makes some sense, though in that case it seems more on-point to put the emphasis on the weight effects of untreated OSA than to argue that CPAP causes weight gain. Actually looking back at the articles the study authors' Conclusions statement is not that CPAP causes weight gain, that was more the spin that Dr. Park put on this study.

Still curious -- what was the "Sham CPAP"?

[49er]

Hmm, during the rare times pap therapy worked for me, I craved healthy food and had no desire to eat any junk. I also had alots of energy and felt like exercising. So i don't think it would cause me to gain weight.

49er

[mollete]

Still curious -- what was the "Sham CPAP"?

I think they used this one:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2817913/

[caffeinatedcfo]

Hmmm. Can you summize: is it breathing or the proper levels of O2 that causes weight gain?

[bcolenj]

without having read the article or case study I would tend to call BS. It is well documented science that insufficient or inadequate sleep, never mind apnea, causes numerous health issues (besides the possibility of death), including hypertension, diabetes, weight gain, and many others. Weight is gained due to the body not getting the appropriate recovery period and it throws off metabolic processes, including liver function which can cause the over production of sugar and increase in storage of fats.

If you look up studies on sleep, specifically why we sleep and what evolutionary purpose it fulfills, most of the leading researchers say we sleep simply because our bodies need it to recover, though how much sleep people need varies greatly.

[cpaapist]

bcolenj: without having read the article or case study I would tend to call BS

Calling an article or case study BS without having read them is the real bull s***.

[mollete]

Hmmm. Can you summize: is it breathing or the proper levels of O2 that causes weight gain?

Neither. It is simply that Food Intake > Energy Expenditure.

[Iowamv]

On the other hand, if you are getting more sleep after starting CPAP, this article on the connection between sleep loss and weight gain might interest you.

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/08/0 ... ight-gain/

Weight gain/loss is an extremely complicated area of research.

[SleepingUgly]

Participants randomized to CPAP gained 0.35 ± 5.01 kg, whereas those on Sham CPAP lost 0.70 ± 4.03 kg (mean ± SD, p = 0.001).

Of 1,105 participants with an apnea hypopnea index ≥ 10 events/ hour initially randomized, 812 had body weight measured at baseline and after 6 months of study.

So with a large sample size of 812, a difference of +.35 kg vs. -.70 kg is highly statistically significant. We're talking about gaining .77 of a lb vs. losing 1.5 lbs. On average. I can take put on and take off a pair of boots and have that much swing in my weight. Of what clinical significance is this statistically significant finding?

[Iowamv]

I don't doubt the result, but I think it is worth noting that 2/3 of their effect was due to the sham causing weight loss. That is, the weight loss for the control group was twice as large as the weight gain for the CPAP group.

[bob23213]

I did read something about this hapening in children with sleap apnia. But this was after all
a special case where the sleap apnia was stunting the children's normal growth.