Background/Aim: Recent literature shows an increased incidence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) in patients with Idiopathic pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) and there are no published studies related to CPAP treatment in these patients. We aimed to assess CPAP effectiveness in sleep and quality of life in IPF patients with OSA and recognize difficulties in CPAP initiation and acceptance. Methods: Five male patients with newly diagnosed IPF and moderate to severe OSA were included. CPAP therapy was initiated. The patients completed the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), the Functional Outcomes in Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ), the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS), the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire and the Beck Depression scale (BDS) before and 1 month after CPAP therapy. Results: Small, although not statistical significant, improvement was noted in ESS score (11.6 vs 12.8), PSQI (14.8 vs 15.2), FOSQ (15.2 vs 14.8), FSS (38.6 vs 41), SF-36 (66.2 vs 62.6) and BDS (10.2 vs 11) after one month of CPAP therapy. Three out of 5 patients had difficulties in CPAP acceptance (nocturnal cough, claustrophobia, insomnia) and needed intense follow up by the CPAP clinic. Conclusion: One month of CPAP therapy did not show statistical significant improvement in parameters related to sleep quality, quality of life and depression in IPF patients with OSA. The possibility of CPAP poor compliance was high and could only be eliminated with intense follow up by the CPAP clinic. Despite difficulties, CPAP therapy should be tried in these patients and long-term studies are needed in order to assess possible positive influences in quality of life but also disease related morbidity and mortality.
Bouloukaki et al. (Thu,) studied this question.
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