Simulation of required CPAP usage to normalize AHI in obstructive sleep apnea patients

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disease with severe health consequences. The severity of OSA is estimated with apnea-hypopnea-index (AHI). OSA is often treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). The aim of the current work was to create a numerical simulator showing benefits of different levels of usage of CPAP treatment. 226 male OSA patients were evaluated. CPAP treatment was simulated in 5 min intervals starting from the beginning of the night and continuing until the end. The cutoff point where AHI reached normal level of <5 events/h were determined for mild, moderate and severe OSA categories. We found a trend of increasing AHI towards the end of the night. The median values of required simulated CPAP usage times to normalize the AHI values (AHI < 5 events/h) were 3.9 h, 5.3 h and 6.2 h in the mild, moderate and severe OSA severity categories, respectively. CPAP treatment adherence can be limited in OSA patients due to several reasons. The presented CPAP treatment simulation tool could aid the clinicians to give patient specific recommendation to the OSA patients for required CPAP treatment times and to motivate the patients to higher adherence levels of the treatment. This could possibly better prevent the harmful health consequences related to OSA.