A new study showed that the BMI of patients with obstructive sleep apnea increased significantly following continuous positive airway pressure treatment.
Investigators sought to examine the effects of CPAP treatment on BMI and local adiposity, along with the potential modifiers of CPAP outcomes on BMI in patients with OSA.
The inclusion criteria for the meta-analysis were as follows: (1) studies that recruited adult patients with OSA (≥18 years of age); (2) RCTs with a CPAP group and a control group (either sham CPAP or usual care treatment) with follow-up of at least 4 weeks; (3) studies that reported mean and standard deviation/standard error of BMI both before and after intervention; and (4) no language restriction.
A total of 39 RCTs that included 6954 participants comprised the meta-analysis. Per intention-to-treat analysis, BMI increased significantly following CPAP therapy vs control treatment (weighted mean difference [WMD], 0.148 kg/m2; 95% CI, 0.035-0.262; P =.010). In the studies in which an increase in BMI was noted, waist and neck circumferences were also significantly larger.
