What is the outcome of CPAP treatment for patients with sleep apnea?
A study of 264 healthy subjects, 403 untreated patients with sleep apnea, and 372 patients with CPAP treatment for 10 years had a combined vascular event end point that included fatal or non-fatal stroke or MI or acute coronary syndrome requiring car- diac intervention. In this cohort, severe untreated sleep apnea was associated with a 3-fold increased risk of vascular events (adjusted OR, 2.87; 95% CI, 1.17 7.51 for cardiovascular death; OR, 3.17; 95% CI, 1.12 7.52 for nonfatal cardiovascu- lar events), but patients with treated sleep apnea had vascular event risks that were similar to those of patients with mild untreated sleep apnea and healthy subjects. A cardiovascular end-point benefit was observed with CPAP treatment among 364 patients receiving CPAP compared with 85 untreated The adjusted HR was 0.34 (95% CI, 0.20 0.58) for CPAP treatment.