MedPath

Effect of Weight Loss and CPAP on OSA and Metabolic Profile Stratified by Craniofacial Phenotype

Not Applicable
Completed
Conditions
Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Interventions
Behavioral: Lifestyle modification
Device: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)
Registration Number
NCT03287973
Lead Sponsor
Chinese University of Hong Kong
Brief Summary

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). Weight reduction has always been advocated in patients with OSA who are overweight and may lead to improvement in the severity of OSA. Previous study reported a randomized controlled trial of dietician-led lifestyle modification program (LMP) in 104 patients and found that LMP group had significantly more weight loss and reduced OSA severity, and the response was sustained after 8 months.

This study is aimed to compare the effect of weight loss or CPAP alone on subclinical inflammation, insulin resistance and blood pressure in patients with obesity and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, stratified according to the degree of craniofacial restriction.

The study plans to recruit consecutive patients who have been referred to the Respiratory Clinic at the Prince of Wales Hospital with clinical suspicion of sleep-disordered breathing with specific study entry criteria including an age of 18 or more, body mass index (BMI) \>25 kg/m2, and moderate to severe OSA diagnosed by home sleep study. Patients having conditions that will affect the serum level of hsCRP will be excluded.

Detailed Description

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common form of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB). It causes sleep fragmentation, disabling daytime sleepiness, impaired cognitive function, poor quality of life and cardiovascular diseases. Weight reduction has always been advocated in patients with OSA who are overweight and may lead to improvement in the severity of OSA. Previous study reported a randomized controlled trial of dietician-led lifestyle modification program (LMP) in 104 patients and found that LMP group had significantly more weight loss and reduced OSA severity, and the response was sustained after 8 months. However, a wide variety of response to the therapy was observed with 21.3% of patients with severe disease that converted to mild to moderate and only 6.6% of those with severe disease who became mild in severity. Apart from obesity, craniofacial factors are well recognized in the pathogenesis of OSA and are likely to play an important role in influencing the response to weight loss. For the same degree of OSA severity, Caucasians were more overweight whereas Chinese exhibited more craniofacial bony restriction. Recent studies showed that a smaller craniofacial skeleton is associated with better response from weight loss program in terms of OSA improvement. With vast majority of studies investigating the cardiometabolic changes after CPAP or weight loss on patients with OSA, evaluation based on craniofacial restriction, the key factor in the pathogenesis, is lacking.

This study aimed to compare the effect of weight loss or CPAP alone on subclinical inflammation, insulin resistance and blood pressure in patients with obesity and moderate-to-severe obstructive sleep apnea, stratified according to the degree of craniofacial restriction.

The study plans to recruit consecutive patients who have been referred to the Respiratory Clinic at the Prince of Wales Hospital with clinical suspicion of sleep-disordered breathing with specific study entry criteria including an age of 18 or more, body mass index (BMI) \>25 kg/m2, and moderate to severe OSA diagnosed by home sleep study. Patients having conditions that will affect the serum level of hsCRP will be excluded.

Recruitment & Eligibility

Status
COMPLETED
Sex
All
Target Recruitment
194
Inclusion Criteria
  • Patients diagnosed with moderate or severe obstructive sleep apnea ( apnea hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 15); body mass index ≥25 kg/m2; age 18-70 years.
Read More
Exclusion Criteria
  • Predominant central sleep apnea; conditions that will affect the level of hsCRP; unstable cardiovascular disease (e.g. recent unstable angina, myocardial infarction, stroke or transient ischemic attack within the previous 6 months or severe left ventricular failure; neuromuscular disease affecting or potentially affecting respiratory muscles; moderate to severe respiratory disease (i.e. breathlessness affecting activities of daily living) or documented hypoxemia or awake SaO2 <92%); psychiatric disease that limits the ability to give informed consent or complete the study.
Read More

Study & Design

Study Type
INTERVENTIONAL
Study Design
PARALLEL
Arm && Interventions
GroupInterventionDescription
Lifestyle modification program groupLifestyle modificationPatients with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) ≥ 15/hr on home sleep study will participate in a dietitian-led lifestyle modification program (LMP) for 6 months. Patients will attend dietary consultation weekly in the first 4 months, and then monthly in the following two months.
CPAP groupContinuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)Patients randomized into the continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) group in each arm will be interviewed by the physician on duty and invited to start autoCPAP treatment for 6 months. They will be offered a CPAP education package. Patients will then commence autoCPAP treatment for 6 months at home.
Primary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
changes in hsCRP6 months
Secondary Outcome Measures
NameTimeMethod
change in Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS)6 months
Change of facial measurements on photography6 months

Frontal and profile digital photographs of the head and neck are obtained with a standardized setup. A digital camera is mounted on a tripod at a distance of 160 cm from the subject alignment plane.

Subjects are photographed standing upright while assuming the natural head position. Standardized methods are used to align subjects for the photographs. For the frontal photograph, the subject's facial landmark nasion is aligned along the subject alignment plane while ensuring both ears are seen equally from the front. For the profile photograph, the subject is instructed to turn 90 degrees to the left after the frontal photograph was taken.

The subject's mid-sagittal plane is aligned to the subject alignment plane. Using image analysis software (Image J v1.36, NIH, Bethesda, MD), the photographs are examined for landmark digitization.

Change of insulin sensitivity by Matsuda index6 months
Change of anatomic measurements of upper airway on computed tomography imaging6 months

All subjects will perform a three-dimensional (3D) computed tomography (CT) scans of the head/neck region to evaluate the size of the maxillomandibular volume (MMV) based on the mandibular cephalometric landmarks (left and right condylion, left and right gonion, and menton). All measurements will be made by a single assessor and the analysis will be performed blind to knowledge of AHI data.

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

Chinese University of Hong

🇭🇰

Hong Kong, Hong Kong

© Copyright 2025. All Rights Reserved by MedPath