CPAP and oral appliance equally effective
ACCORDING TO THIS STUDY, BOTH CPAP AND ORAL APPLIANCES ARE EQUALLY EFFECTIVE IN REDUCING THE RISK OF FATAL CARDIOVASCULAR EVENTS IN PATIENTS WITH SEVERE OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA
Abstract
Background and objective
The objective of this study was to evaluate the long‐term cardiovascular mortality in patients with severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) treated with either continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) or mandibular advancing device (MAD).
Methods
A non‐concurrent cohort study of 570 subjects with severe OSA (apnoea/hypopnoea index (AHI) ≥ 30/h) and a control group of 269 subjects (AHI < 5/h) were followed up for a median of 79 months (interquartile range 76–88 months). All patients received CPAP initially. MAD was offered for those who were non‐adherent to CPAP. The endpoint was cardiovascular death.
Results
Two hundred and eight control subjects, 177 patients treated with CPAP, 72 with MAD and 212 who declined treatment were analysed. Forty‐two patients had a fatal cardiovascular event during the course of the study. The non‐apnoeic group had the lowest cardiovascular death rate (0.28 per 100 person‐years (95% confidence interval (CI): 0.08–0.71)) followed by the CPAP‐treated (0.56 per 100 person‐years (95% CI: 0.20–1.23)) and the MAD‐treated OSA group (0.61 per 100 person‐years (95% CI: 0.13–1.78)), with the highest cardiovascular mortality rate observed in the untreated OSA group (2.1 per 100 person‐years (95% CI: 1.37–2.92)). Although residual AHI for MAD‐treated patients was significantly higher than CPAP‐treated patients (16.3 ± 5.1/h vs. 4.5 ± 2.3/h; P < 0.001), there was no difference in cardiovascular death rate between the two groups (hazard ratio 1.08 (95% CI: 0.55–1.74); P = 0.71).
Conclusions
Both CPAP and MAD may be equally effective therapy in reducing the risk of fatal cardiovascular events in patients with severe OSA.
