March 31, 2003
MURRYSVILLE, Penn. - A sleep study published in the March 27 issue of The New England Journal of Medicine has found that heart function can be significantly improved in patients with CHF and OSA by CPAP treatment.
The study tested 24 patients with CHF and OSA who were taking medication for heart failure. For one month, 12 of those patients were treated with CPAP treatment; the other 12 were left untreated.
The study found that patients on CPAP:
- reduced their OSA episodes by 80%
- increased by 35% the amount of blood their hearts could pump when compared to where they were prior to the start of CPAP therapy
- realized a 6% decrease in heart size
- reduced their blood pressure by 10-mm, while the blood pressure of the control group remained the same
- reduced their rate from 68 to 64 beats per second while the heart rate of the control group remained the same.
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