Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1997, 183 (1)

Improvement of Exercise Performance with Short-Term Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

OSAMU TAGUCHI, WATARU HIDA, SHINICHI OKABE, SATORU EBIHARA, HIROMASA OGAWA, YOSHIHIRO KIKUCHI and KUNIO SHIRATO

The First Department of Internal Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai 980-77

  • We examined the effects of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on exercise performance in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Six patients were treated with nasal CPAP on seven successive days and underwent overnight sleep studies and multiple sleep latency test (MSLT) at the beginning and after the last day of the treatment. The subjects also performed incremental exercise testing using a bicycle ergometer followed by 0-w, 25-w, 50-w, - (3 minutes each) until maximum level. Arterial oxygen pressure, arterial carbon dioxide pressure at rest while awake, apnea/hypopnea index, longest apnea duration, the lowest percutaneous oxygen saturation measured by a pulse oximeter and the value of MSLT were significantly improved after nasal CPAP. Moreover, maximal oxygen consumption was significantly increased from 1841 ml/min ± 350 to 2125 ml/min ± 351 (p < 0.05); however, other cardiorespiratory parameters did not change significantly. The improvement of exercise performance by short-term nasal CPAP treatment in OSA patients may correlate with the improvement of sleepiness.
    Key words--- oxygen consumption; sensation of dyspnea; bicycle ergometer; sleep deprivation
    © 1997 Tohoku University Medical Press

    Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 1997, 183, 45-53
    Address for reprints: Kunio Shirato, M.D., The First Department of Internal Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, 1-1 Seiryomachi, Aoba-ku, Sendai 980-77, Japan.

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