Could CPAP Improve Risk of CVD Events in Sleep Apnea Patients?

Use of positive airway pressure (PAP) is not associated with reduced risk of cardiovascular disease or mortality in patients with sleep apnea, according to a recent study.

Although continuous PAP (CPAP) and adaptive servo-ventilation (ASV) can provide symptomatic relief for patients with sleep apnea, their effects on cardiovascular risk and mortality are unclear.
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For their study, researchers collected data from 10 trials (N=7266), including 356 major adverse cardiovascular events and 613 deaths.

Overall, PAP was not associated with major adverse cardiovascular events, cardiovascular-related death, or all-cause death, nor with acute coronary syndrome, stroke, or heart failure. No differences were observed in patients undergoing CPAP and ASV , and meta-regressions identified no associations between PAP and apnea severity.

“The use of PAP, compared with no treatment or sham, was not associated with reduced risks of cardiovascular outcomes or death for patients with sleep apnea. Although there are other benefits of treatment with PAP for sleep apnea, these findings do not support treatment with PAP with a goal of prevention of these outcomes,” the researchers concluded.

—Michael Potts

Reference:

Yu J, Zhou Z, McEvoy D, et al. Association of positive airway pressure with cardiovascular events and death in adults with sleep apnea. JAMA. 2017;318(2):156-166.