Effects of CPAP and Mandibular Advancement Devices on Health-Related Quality of Life in OSA: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis

Abstract

Background: Untreated OSA is associated with impaired health-related quality of life (QoL) and excessive daytime sleepiness, which have been shown to improve with treatment. The aim was to compare the effects of CPAP and a mandibular advancement device (MAD) on health-related QoL in OSA.

Methods: MEDLINE and the Cochrane Library were searched up to November 2015 for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing the effect of CPAP, MADs, or an inactive control treatment on health-related QoL assessed by the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) in OSA. Extraction of study characteristics, quality, and bias assessment were independently performed by three authors. A network meta-analysis using multivariate random-effects meta-regression was performed to assess treatment effects on the mental component score (MCS) and the physical component score (PCS) of the SF-36.

Results: Of 1,491 identified studies, 23 RCTs were included in the meta-analysis (2,342 patients). Compared with an inactive control, CPAP was associated with a 1.7 point (95% CI, 0.1-3.2; P = .036) improvement in the MCS and a 1.7 point (95% CI, 0.5-2.9; P = .005) improvement in the PCS. MADs were associated with a 2.4 point (95% CI, 0.0-4.9; P = .053) and a 1.5 point (95% CI, -0.2 to 3.2; P = .076) improvement in the MCS and PCS, respectively, compared with inactive control treatments. There were no statistically significant differences between treatment effects of CPAP and MAD on the SF-36 scores.

Conclusions: CPAP is effective in improving health-related QoL in OSA, and MADs may be just as effective, but further RCTs comparing the two treatments are required.

Keywords: CPAP; OSA; health-related quality of life; mandibular advancement device; network meta-analysis.