CPAP and OAT: A New Dynamic Duo?

The Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine (JCSM)1 just published a paper titled “Long-term health outcomes for patients with obstructive sleep apnea: placing the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality report in context- a multi-society commentary.”

This was a necessary commentary, as the AHRQ report had two major conclusions – insufficient evidence exists to conclude that improvements in AHI are correlated with improvements of long-term health outcomes, and the studies they reviewed did not provide evidence that CPAP prescription affects long-term, clinically important outcomes.

The AHRQ report had two major conclusions – neither CPAP nor improving AHI will impact long-term, clinically-significant outcomes. Although focused on CPAP, the AHRQ report indicates there is no evidence supporting that oral appliance therapy (OAT) would improve long-term clinically important outcomes better than CPAP. This report could have tremendous influence on how sleep medicine is meant to be practiced.

Read the full article below:

CPAP and OAT

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