Great news for the millions of people who are undergoing continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy using a mask. An 11-year study indicated that the use of CPAP mask was directly linked to a 62% decline in the odds for death.
The study was led by Dr. Quentin Lisan and conducted at the Paris Cardiovascular Research Center. Dr. Lisan said that the benefit was sustained even after factoring the usual co-morbidities of sleep apnoea such as diabetes, obesity, high blood pressure, and diabetes.
Previous studies regarding the connection between CPAP therapy and longevity was not established since those clinical trials were simply too short. Based on this recent study published in JAMA Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery journal, longevity benefit only appears from six years onwards of CPAP therapy.
According to sleep medicine expert Dr. Clete Kushida of Stanford University, sleep specialists across the globe find some difficulty in persuading obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients to use CPAP devices. The result of this study will help doctors convince patients with sleep apnoea not to hesitate at the idea of undergoing CPAP therapy wearing a mask on a nightly basis, and probably for the rest of their life. Dr. Kushida said that in the USA alone, there are over 55 million Americans aged 40 and above who snore and suffer nighttime awakenings due to OSA. As supported by previous researches and clinical studies, untreated sleep apnoea leads to a higher risk of patients developing co-morbidities such as stroke, obesity, cardiovascular diseases, diabetes and more.
CPAP Therapy and Longevity
CPAP is the leading remedy for obstructive sleep apnoea and snoring. However, can this treatment really extend the life expectancy of users?
The French team sourced their respondents from the U.S. National Institutes of Health data base. The said 1990 data base is comprised of over 6,400 Americans who are 40 years old and older. Monitored by the US institute for decades, Dr. Lisan and his research group chose 392 severely obese OSA patients from the data base, of which four over five of the participants were male. About 81 of these patients used CPAP for more than 11 years, while the remaining 311 patients did not. The French study proved that CPAP users of more than 1 years cut their odds of dying by two-thirds, as compared to non-CPAP machine users. This is definitely good news to obese OSA patients. Dr. Lisan and his group told concerned sleep doctors and therapists that CPAP therapy should be encouraged and pursued to obese patients.
According to Staten Island University Hospital’s Dr. Homere Al Mountran, the new findings reiterate a published sleep study published in The Lancet. This study monitored over 1,600 OSA patients for more than 10 years. Director of Center for Sleep Medicine’s Dr. Steven Feinsilver said that the latest data regarding the connection between long-term CPAP use and long life for patients adds credence to the established fact that obstructive sleep apnoea is a public health issue, and that CPAP therapy is the leading treatment for such.
