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| |  New Guidelines Released For Treating Adult Sleep Apnea NORTHBROOK, IL -- March 12, 1999 -- New treatment guidelines were reported today for one of the fastest growing areas of medicine -- sleep disorders. The guidelines appear in this month’s issue of the journal Chest. The guidelines focused on various forms of positive airway pressure (PAP) in the treatment of adult obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), the most common form of sleep apnea which afflicts 20 million Americans. The most effective treatment, continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), requires the patient to wear a mask over the nose during sleep as pressure from an air compressor forces air though the nasal passages. Although effective, about 40 percent of patients have difficulty using CPAP for long periods of time. Another form, bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPAP) ventilator support system, is designed to follow the patient's breathing pattern which many patients find more comfortable than continuous pressure. People with obstructive sleep apnea find it difficult to sleep at night and stay awake during the day. The costs to society due to loss of productivity, industrial accidents, and medical bills are estimated to be over $60 billion US per year. The panel of experts which authored the guidelines said they wanted to provide a common sense and easily understood approach to the treatment of OSA with PAP. They said their recommendations were based on peer-reviewed studies and widely accepted clinical practice and should serve as an interim guide until results from research such as the Sleep Heart Health Study and various other evidence outcome studies could provide the data upon which to develop more formal consensus recommendations. They noted that the guidelines do not necessarily reflect the official view of either the American College of Chest Physicians or any of their respective home institutions. The guidelines cover the following: which patients should undergo such diagnostic techniques as polysomnography, the continuous recording of a number of physiological functions and events during sleep which could range from three to six hours; what criteria should be met to appropriately define apnea (cessation of breathing)and hypoxia (oxygen deficiency); what conditions warrant treatment for which PAP therapy, and what efforts should be undertaken to help patients adhere to their treatment.
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