PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Karl-Heinz Ruhle
AU  - Karl-Josef Franke
AU  - Ulrike Domanski
AU  - Maik Schroeder
AU  - Georg Nilius
TI  - APAP and heated humidification in OSA patients with nasopharyngeal complaints. Adherence and functional outcome of sleep
DP  - 2013 Sep 01
TA  - European Respiratory Journal
PG  - P3593
VI  - 42
IP  - Suppl 57
4099  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P3593.short
4100  - http://erj.ersjournals.com/content/42/Suppl_57/P3593.full
SO  - Eur Respir J2013 Sep 01; 42
AB  - Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treated with positive airway pressure (PAP) often complain about dry nose, mouth and throat. As therapy acceptance and adherence depends mainly on the condition during the first few weeks after starting treatment, it would be useful to identify those patients who especially benefit from additional heated humidification.72 patients, 35 with nasopharyngeal complaints (risk group) and 37 patients without (non risk group) (AHI 29.4 ± 20, age 53.1 ± 9.2 years, BMI 32.0 ± 7.9 kg / m²) were examined. In this single-blinded, randomized, parallel study patients were treated with automatic PAP (APAP) (Fisher & Paykel) with and without heated humidification (HH) during 6 weeks. The risk group was identified by a score >9 in a questionnaire concerning nasopharyngeal complaints (NPC) with 5 items (range 0-5). Primary endpoint was adherence, secondary endpoints were subjective complaints and functional outcome measured by the functional outcome of sleep questionnaire (FOSQ).Adherence in the non risk group with and without HH was 330 ± 116 vs. 321 ± 89 minutes. Adherence in the risk group with NPC was 330 ± 103 vs. 281 ± 118 minutes. The differences were not significant. The NPC score of the risk group was significantly reduced by HH. A significant improvement of daily function (FOSQ) was observed in the risk group comparing APAP with and without HH (90.0 ±11.9 vs 82.0 ±12.0 (p<0.05)).Differentiation into groups with and without nasopharyngeal complaints (NPC) before starting PAP treatment is useful. In a risk group with NPC heated humidification improves symptom score and functional outcome of sleep.