Nocturnal CPAP (nCPAP) therapy benefits the heart in patients with cardiovascular disease and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)

• nCPAP decreased risk of adverse cardiovascular events in severe OSA patients vs. untreated subjects in a prospective observational all-male 10 year follow-up study. 

Marin, J.M., Carrizo, S.J., Vicente, E., and Agusti, A.G. (2005). Long-term cardiovascular outcomes in men with obstructive sleep apnoea-hypopnoea with or without treatment with continuous positive airway pressure: an observational study. Lancet 365, 1046-1053. 

• nCPAP improved cardiac function, decreased blood pressure and heart rate in patients with heart failure and OSA. 

 Kaneko, Y., Floras, J.S., Usui, K., Plante, J., Tkacova, R., Kubo, T., Ando, S., and Bradley, T.D. (2003). Cardiovascular effects of continuous positive airway pressure in patients with heart failure and obstructive sleep apnea. N Engl J Med 348, 1233-1241. 

• nCPAP decreased the number of cardiovascular deaths in OSA patients compared to untreated patients  in a study over 7.5 years in 168 patients.

 Doherty, L.S., Kiely, J.L., Swan, V., andMcnicholas, W.T. (2005). Long-term effects of nasal continuous positive airwaypressure therapy on cardiovascular outcomes in sleep apnea syndrome. Chest 127, 2076-2084. doi: 10.1378/chest.127.6.2076.

• CPAP therapy reduces arrhythmias as frequency of nocturnal ventricle premature beats was lower in CPAP treated heart failure patients with OSA  

Ryan, C.M., Usui, K., Floras, J.S., and Bradley, T.D. (2005).Effect of continuous positive airway pressure on ventricular ectopy in heartfailure patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. Thorax 60, 781-785.