CPAP Therapy Leads to Increases in Physical Activity, According to New Study
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CPAP Therapy Leads to Increases in Physical Activity, According to New Study
By Admin
A new study has found that CPAP therapy is associated with increased physical activity among adults with sleep apnea and cardiovascular conditions. The study, known as the Sleep Apnea cardioVascular Endpoints trials, or SAVE, focused primarily on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and heart ailments, a common comorbid relationship among older adults. What the study found was that patients with these common conditions have much higher rates of physical activity and exercise when using CPAP therapy to treat their sleep apnea. Even daily activities like walking or using stairs were more common among those who used CPAP regularly. Over time, this can lead to significant health benefits for patients in the upper age range. The study was conducted over four years with over 2,000 participants over the age of 45, all of them diagnosed with both sleep apnea and cardiovascular conditions such as heart disease. On average, the participants who used CPAP had 20 percent higher rates of daily activity compared to those who did not use the treatment. This breakthrough study contributes further to the view that CPAP improves both health and quality of life for those with sleep apnea, an important consideration at a time when health concerns are a top priority throughout the world.
The SAVE Project
The SAVE study was an international, randomized controlled trial of patients with a history of both cardiovascular disease and sleep apnea. The patients were separated into two groups, one treated with CPAP and standard cardiovascular care, and the other treated only with standard care. In total, there were 2,601 participants from multiple countries between the ages of 45 and 75 years, and more than 80 percent of the participants were men, a number more or less consistent with sleep apnea and heart condition rates in the general public. At follow-up intervals of six months, two years, and four years, participants were asked to report their physical activity using the Leisure-Time Exercise Questionnaire, which asks questions about a number of routine physical activities. By the end of the four-year period, or averaged at 3.7 years, the group of participants using CPAP reported roughly 20 percent higher levels of moderate to vigorous physical activity compared to the group who did not use CPAP. In addition, those in the CPAP group were more likely to follow recommendations by health professionals regarding their physical activity.
According to the authors, the primary objective of the SAVE trials was “to determine the effects of CPAP on moderate to vigorous physical activity among participants with co-occurring cardiovascular disease and obstructive sleep apnea.” Not only did they achieve this goal, but their findings were consistent with previous studies linking low levels of activity with increased sleep apnea symptoms. The authors also concluded that the increased physical activity could led to substantial health benefits over longer periods of time, potentially lowering the recurrence of cardiovascular events.
How CPAP Increases Physical Activity
While previous studies have identified a relationship between PAP therapy and lower risk of cardiovascular disease, the conclusions were sometimes inconsistent with other studies on similar subjects. While some cardiovascular benefits are associated with improved sleep and breathing from regular use of CPAP, the SAVE study looks at physical activity specifically as a positive correlate, concluding that CPAP therapy is related to increases in the amount of movement or exercise patients engage in over time. This increase in activity can further contribute to improvements in heart health and related conditions, but the precise relationship between CPAP and movement is uncertain. While the study did specify the type of activities observed as “moderate to vigorous” exercises, this could be anything from jogging and weight training to walking and stretching. In fact, some activities could be related directly to the CPAP therapy routine, for example, getting up to set up the CPAP station, moving to a different room for therapy, or exercises performed prior to therapy and sleep. There is also the possibility that patients using CPAP are more likely to engage in physical activites, or that CPAP treatment leads to more physical activity through improved health and wellbeing, which is likely to boost confidence and motivation. In either case, a link between PAP therapy and physical activity is clear. The more you can adhere to CPAP therapy treatment, the more likely you will maintain proper health through fitness.
It is important to note that these increases in activity are not necessarily related to discipline or motivation in a general sense. As the study authors point out, some recorded increases in physical activity resulted from fewer limitations in movement due to health conditions, which shows that patients using CPAP are less likely to develop limitations that can stop them from carrying out activities on a regular basis. Whether this is due to improved health from CPAP alone or from lifestyle habits that include CPAP among other activities is uncertain, and a combination of factors may be involved. Further studies may be needed to determine the causal link and how the therapy contributes specifically to activity increases.
A Word From the Authors
One of the study’s co-authors, Kelly Loffler, Ph.D., a research fellow at Flinders University in Adelaide, South Australia, stated in an AASM press release that the CPAP group was much more likely to maintain higher levels of activity throughout the four-year period, including activities that were “important for independent aging,” like walking up stairs. While some uncertainty still exists on how CPAP improves physical activity, the important thing, according to Loffler, are the benefits of treatment. As Loeffler explains, “CPAP represents a useful tool to assist health care providers caring for populations with comorbidities and combined with lifestyle interventions like diet and targeted exercise will likely provide many users with a symptomatic benefit that goes beyond their reported sleep.”
Sources
American Academy of Sleep Medicine - https://aasm.org/cpap-treatment-increases-physical-activity-adults-sleep-apnea-heart-disease/
Belgium Clinical Record (Acta Clinica Belgica) - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29726745/
Future Cardiology - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28631492/
Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine - https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32951632/
Journal of the American Heart Association - https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.118.010440
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