CPAP may improve symptoms of metabolic syndrome in patients with sleep apnea.

Bloomberg News (12/15, Cortez) reports, "A face mask used to treat a nighttime breathing disorder called obstructive sleep apnea can reduce a patient's blood pressure, cholesterol and stomach fat, potentially improving their heart health," according to new research published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

        HealthDay (12/15, Gordon) reports that "study included 86 adults between the ages of 30 and 65. All had obstructive sleep apnea, but none was being treated with CPAP."

        MedPage Today (12/15, Bankhead) reports, "Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, lipids, and glycated hemoglobin all responded favorably to three months of CPAP [continuous positive airway pressure] as compared with sham CPAP (P=0.02 to P<0.001)." Researchers found that "by the end of the study, 13% of patients treated with CPAP no longer met diagnostic criteria for metabolic syndrome, compared with 1% of patients in the sham-CPAP control group."

        HeartWire (12/15, Hughes) reported that, according to the study's lead author, "The message of this study is that, if metabolic syndrome is associated with obstructive sleep apnea, then CPAP should be the first-line of treatment."

You can find the article here: PMID: 22168642