Clinical Reproducibility of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale for Patients With Suspected Sleep Apnea.

Study Objectives: To determine the reproducibility of the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) score in a clinical population referred for diagnostic testing with suspected obstructive sleep apnea.

Methods: A retrospective audit of patients referred for a diagnostic sleep study with suspected sleep apnea was undertaken. Data collection was two 3-month time periods from January to March in 2012 and 2014.

Continuous positive airway pressure treatment for obstructive sleep apnoea: Maori, Pacific and New Zealand European experiences.

Introduction: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is an effective treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), but can be limited by poor adherence. In New Zealand (NZ), ethnicity has been shown to be a predictor of CPAP adherence. This study aimed to explore Maori , Pacific and NZ European patients' experience of CPAP treatment.

The effect of continuous positive airway pressure usage on sleepiness in obstructive sleep apnoea: real effects or expectation of benefit?

Rationale: Placebo responses are complex psychobiological phenomena and often involve patient expectation of benefit. With continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea, greater hours of CPAP use are associated with reduced sleepiness. However, these open-label studies have not controlled for patient expectation of benefit derived from their knowledge of hours of device use.

Ethnic disparities in CPAP adherence in New Zealand: effects of socioeconomic status, health literacy and self-efficacy.

Study Objectives: We aimed to investigate the influence of ethnicity on adherence with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) in a sample of New Zealand patients.

Design: Observational study over one month.

Setting: A university-based sleep laboratory.

Nasal versus oronasal continuous positive airway pressure masks for obstructive sleep apnea: a pilot investigation of pressure requirement, residual disease, and leak.

Purpose: This single-blinded, randomized, controlled pilot study aimed to investigate whether there is a difference between nasal and oronasal masks in therapeutic continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) requirement, residual disease, or leak when treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and if differences were related to measures of upper airway size.

Methods: Patients with severe OSA currently using CPAP at ≥4 h/night with a nasal mask were examined (including Mallampati scale, incisal relationship, and mandibular protrusion) and then randomized to receive auto-positive airway pressure (PAP) or fixed CPAP at a manually titrated pressure for 1 week each at home, with immediate crossover. Within each week, a nasal mask and two oronasal masks were to be used for two or three nights each in random order.

Pulse wave analysis in a pilot randomised controlled trial of auto-adjusting and continuous positive airway pressure for obstructive sleep apnoea.

Purpose: Non-invasive measurements of arterial stiffness including the augmentation index (AIx) and central blood pressure (BP) have been used to assess the cardiovascular health of patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), a well-established independent risk factor of cardiovascular disease. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) can significantly reduce the AIx, but no studies have analysed the effect of auto-adjusting PAP (APAP) or studied morbidly obese patients with severe OSA at higher risk of cardiovascular disease. In this randomised, single-blinded crossover pilot trial, we aimed to compare the efficacy of CPAP with APAP (ResMed S8 Autoset II) in improving peripheral BP, central BP and the AIx, using SphygmoCor technology.

Home set-up polysomnography in the assessment of suspected obstructive sleep apnea.

Home set-up polysomnography (PSG) has advantages over other portable monitoring devices, but remains unendorsed by professional bodies despite excellent utility in the Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS). The study aims to determine technical reliability and diagnostic accuracy of unattended, home set-up versus attended laboratory-based PSG in patients with suspected obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Thirty patients with suspected OSA without significant co-morbidity were recruited.

Randomised trial of compliance with flexible (C-Flex) and standard continuous positive airway pressure for severe obstructive sleep apnea.

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is often treated with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) but the effectiveness of treatment is probably limited by poor compliance. CPAP manufacturers are thus attempting to devise more comfortable PAP devices in an effort to improve compliance. An example of such a novel device is Flexible expiratory-modulated PAP (C-Flex mode Respironics REMstar Pro, Murraysville, PA, USA).

A randomized controlled trial of continuous positive airway pressure in mild obstructive sleep apnea.

A common clinical dilemma faced by sleep physicians is in deciding the level of severity at which patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) should be treated. There is particular uncertainty about the need for, and the effectiveness of, treatment in mild cases. To help define the role of nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in mild OSA we undertook a randomized controlled cross-over trial of CPAP in patients with an apnea- hypopnea index (AHI) of 5 - 30 (mean, 12.