Effectiveness and feasibility of continuous positive airway pressure in patients with stroke and sleep apnea: a meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Study Objectives: This meta-analysis aimed to investigate the feasibility and effectiveness of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in stroke patients with sleep apnea.

Methods: PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were searched from inception until July 28, 2022, for randomized controlled trials comparing the use of CPAP and usual treatment in patients with stroke or transient ischemic attack and sleep apnea. The primary outcome measures were the feasibility of CPAP therapy, neurological function, and functional status.

Results: After screening 5,747 studies, 14 studies with 1,065 patients were included in this meta-analysis. Overall, 8 of the 14 studies recorded CPAP use, and the mean CPAP use was 4.47 hours per night (95% confidence interval [CI]: 3.85-5.09). The risk ratio of discontinuing CPAP was 1.50 (95% CI: 0.76-2.94; = .24). Analysis of the neurofunctional scales showed that CPAP treatment improved neurological function (standardized mean difference: 0.28; 95% CI: 0.02-0.53), but there was substantial heterogeneity ( = 57%, = .03) across the studies. CPAP treatment had no significant effect on functional status vs the control (standardized mean difference: 0.25; 95% CI: -0.01 to 0.51), but the studies also had substantial heterogeneity ( = 55%, = .06).

Conclusions: CPAP treatment is feasible in patients with stroke and sleep apnea and may improve neurological outcomes in these patients. However, this finding should be interpreted with caution because of the substantial heterogeneity of current trials.

Citation: Fu S, Peng X, Li Y, Yang L, Yu H. Effectiveness and feasibility of continuous positive airway pressure in patients with stroke and sleep apnea: a meta-analysis of randomized trials. . 2023;19(9):1685-1696.