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. 2020 Aug 30;9(9):2802.
doi: 10.3390/jcm9092802.

Long-Term Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Therapy on Obesity and Cardiovascular Comorbidities in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Resistant Hypertension-An Observational Study

Roxana Pleava  1 , Stefan Mihaicuta  2   3 , Costela Lacrimioara Serban  4 , Carmen Ardelean  3 , Iosif Marincu  5 , Dan Gaita  1   3 , Stefan Frent  2
Affiliations

Long-Term Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Therapy on Obesity and Cardiovascular Comorbidities in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Resistant Hypertension-An Observational Study

Roxana Pleava et al. J Clin Med. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: CPAP therapy; body-mass index; resistant hypertension; sleep apnea.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Flowchart of the study design. (OSA—obstructive sleep apnea; RHTN—resistant hypertension; CPAP—continuous positive airway pressure).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Change from baseline to follow-up in mean BMI according to CPAP usage status. (CPAP—continuous positive airway pressure; BMI—body-mass index; small size circles in the graph represent outliers).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Change from baseline to follow-up in abdominal circumference (cm) according to CPAP usage. (CPAP—continuous positive airway pressure).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Change in mean heart rate according to CPAP usage between initial evaluation and follow-up. (CPAP—continuous positive airway pressure; small size circles in the graph represent outliers).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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