Cardiovascular Responses to Exercise: an Evaluation of the Effectiveness of a Brief Exposure to CPAP in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients

In order to clarify the effects of a single night of CPAP titration on various cardiovascular, gas exchange, and perceptual measures, we conducted submaximal ramping exercise tests to an intensity of ~75% of the heart rate reserve in five male subjects. Means and standard deviation for their age and BMI were 57.0±14.7 years and 30.5±7.2, respectively. The baseline exercise test was administered immediately after the patients arose from bed, following an overnight PSG diagnostic evaluation. The exercise test was repeated within ~2 weeks of completion of an overnight CPAP evaluation trial. Patients reported experiencing improved sleep quality (50%) after the CPAP titration, based on comparison of morning questionnaire responses from the diagnostic PSG vs. CPAP titration. Statistical significance was not attained (p>0.05) upon analysis of the following parameters at 60% of the individuals maximum workload although there were changes in the mean values of the variables from the diagnostic PSG vs CPAP titration. The following changes were noted: heart rate increased by 6%, systolic blood pressure decreased by 6%, and the rate pressure product decreased by 5.8%. Respiratory variables changed as follows: VO2 decreased by 5.3% and VE decreased by 8.5%. The perceptual measure rate of perceived exertion (RPE) decreased by 17.5%. These preliminary findings demonstrate that self-reports of sleep quality in patients with diagnosed OSA improved after a single night of CPAP titration, even in a setting wherein the total time of CPAP sleep and reduction of apneas, hypopneas, and hypoxemic episodes are highly variable. Additionally, sleep structure revealed a marked increase in slow wave (53.2%) and REM (30.4%) sleep with CPAP titration in comparison to the diagnostic PSG. It was concluded that CPAP titration effectively improves sleep structure and patient ratings of sleep quality, but does not have significant effects on cardiorespiratory responses to submaximal endurance exercise.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science

Level thesis:degree_level

masters

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

Department dc:contributor.department

Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise

Grantor dc:publisher

Virginia Tech

Year dc:date.issued

1997

Author dc:creator

• Walker, Eric W.

Chair dc:contributor.committeechair

• Herbert, William G.

Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember

• Zedalis, Donald
• Gregg, John M.
• Ward, Christopher W.

• Obstructive sleep apnea
• CPAP
• Exercise
• Physio

Statement dc:rights

• In Copyright

Licence dc:rights.uri

• http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

Dc Identifier Other

etd-42098-232353

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/9776