Citation

Mcnicholas WT, Philip P. Lancet Respir. Med. 2023; 11(3): 222-224.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2023, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/S2213-2600(22)00503-3

PMID

36863784

Abstract

A 2022 report for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) of the US Department of Health and Human Service concluded that most of the published evidence does not suggest that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy for obstructive sleep apnoea improves long-term, clinically important outcomes. The report especially focused on the paucity of evidence that CPAP improves morbidity and mortality, but also indicated a paucity of evidence for benefit to driving accident risk, cognitive function, or quality of life among treated patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. The report further criticised the inconsistent definitions of sleep-disordered breathing and obstructive sleep apnoea. Although many criticisms raised in the AHRQ report are valid, especially the very limited evidence for CPAP therapy in the secondary prevention of cardiometabolic disease, we strongly question the authors' conclusion that CPAP does not improve cognition function, especially daytime sleepiness and associated accident risk, particularly as the conclusions on accident risk were largely based on two reports that were not designed to assess this aspect...

Language: en