Document Type

Abstract

Publication Date

2-2021

Academic Year

2020-2021

Abstract

Introduction:

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) has been previously linked to the development of hypertension, possibly through the proposed mechanism of recurrent episodes of intermittent hypoxia leading to endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, and metabolic dysregulation. This study aims to investigate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, a first-line therapy for OSA, and its effects on blood pressure in patients with moderate to severe OSA. We hypothesize that compliance to CPAP leads to a decrease in average annual systolic and diastolic blood pressure, compared to noncompliant and non-CPAP use.

Methods:

Our study is a combined retrospective and prospective EPIC chart review study. Moderate to severe OSA patients will be categorized into treatment compliant and noncompliant control groups, with nightly hours of CPAP usage as a continuous predictor variable. Systolic and diastolic blood pressures will be collected and averaged annually over the duration of the study period.

Results:

Our pilot study findings from the EPIC charts of 10 patients show [xyz]. While this initial sample size of 10 patients is inadequately powered to prove or disprove our study hypothesis, our study goal is a patient sample size of n=5000 over the coming year.

Discussion:

Some previous studies have failed to demonstrate an improvement in blood pressure outcomes following the treatment of CPAP in OSA patients. However, these studies were limited by poor CPAP compliance and small sample size. We anticipate that our larger-sample size and higher CPAP compliance rates will enable us to determine whether increased CPAP usage has a beneficial and sustained impact on blood pressure.

Language

English

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