Effect of continuous positive airway pressure on blood pressure in normotensive individuals with obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised trial.

BACKGROUND

The effects of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on blood pressure (BP) in normotensive subjects, particularly among those with a dipping BP pattern, remain uncertain, raising questions about its indication for this group of patients. We assessed the impact of CPAP on BP in normotensive subjects with a dipping BP pattern and severe obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA).

METHODS

This was a randomised, parallel, prospective, controlled trial. Inclusion criteria were: age ≥18 years, apnoea-hypopnoea index ≥30 events·h-1, mean 24-h BP <130/80 mmHg and daytime to night-time BP reduction ≥10%. Patients were randomly assigned to receive either CPAP treatment or usual care for 12 weeks. The primary outcome was the change in ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) parameters from baseline to the 3-month follow-up.

RESULTS

The 60 patients who completed the follow-up had a mean±sd age of 52.2±10.8 years and 40 (66.7%) were male. The intention-to-treat analysis showed no significant changes with CPAP, whereas the usual care group experienced increases in ABPM parameters. This resulted in a mean difference of -3.4 mmHg (95% CI -6.124- -0.676; p=0.015) in night-time diastolic BP between the groups. The per-protocol analysis indicated significant differences between the CPAP and usual care groups for all primary end-points, except for daytime systolic BP. For night-time systolic BP, the mean difference was -6.052 mmHg (95% CI -10.895- -1.208; p=0.016).

CONCLUSION

These findings suggest a protective effect of CPAP, highlighting the importance of CPAP prescription for this population to control potential increases in BP and possibly prevent the onset of hypertension.