CPAP Effectively Treats Fatigue Caused by Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Friday, January 7th, 2011 at 2:39 PM

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) technologies are a staple at Medgadget , mostly because they make for good pictures to go with the post. However, they also make for good medicine, as many studies have shown they are effective for everything between reducing heart complications associated with sleep apnea and improving quality of sleep. One of the latest studies in the journal Sleep continues to promote the use of CPAP for Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) by showing in a randomized study that “3 weeks of therapeutic CPAP significantly reduced fatigue and increased energy in patients with OSA”

Fifty-nine men and women with OSA were randomly assigned to therapeutic or placebo CPAP in a double-blind fashion for a 3-week intervention period. Four outcome measures were assessed: (1) fatigue/vigor measured with the Multidimensional Fatigue Symptom Inventory—Short Form (MFSI-sf), the (2) fatigue and (3) vigor subscales of the Profile of Mood States—Short Form (POMS), and (4) the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). Data were analyzed using repeated-measures analysis of variance.

Compared with patients receiving placebo CPAP, those patients treated with therapeutic CPAP showed significant reductions in the apnea-hypopnea index, as well as decreases in both measures of fatigue and increases in vigor (P values < 0.05). The beneficial effect of therapeutic treatment was most pronounced in patients with high levels of fatigue at study onset. Significant treatment effects in sleepiness scores were not observed in the entire sample (P > 0.05); however, in a subset of patients with excessive sleepiness at the onset of treatment, ESS scores were significantly reduced with use of therapeutic CPAP (P < 0.05).