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CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809060
Original Article

Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure on the Degree of Sleepiness, Functional Quality of Sleep, and Electrophysiological Hearing Responses in Individuals with Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Marisa Mizrahi Farber 
1   Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-language Pathology, Audiology, and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Liliane Aparecida Fagundes Silva 
1   Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-language Pathology, Audiology, and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho 
2   Department of Cardiopneumology, Sleep Laboratory, Instituto do Coração, Hospital das Clínicas, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (HCFMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
,
Carla Gentile Matas 
1   Department of Physical Therapy, Speech-language Pathology, Audiology, and Occupational Therapy, Faculty of Medicine, Universidade de São Paulo (FMUSP), São Paulo, SP, Brazil
› Author Affiliations
Funding Source The authors declare that they did not receive funding from agencies in the public, private or non-profit sectors to conduct the present study.
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Abstract

Introduction

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects nerve impulse transmission in the auditory pathway due to oxygen supply. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy improves oxygen levels, potentially alleviating sleepiness and enhancing central auditory pathway function.

Objective

To longitudinally evaluate the effect of CPAP on the degree of sleepiness, functional quality of sleep, and electrophysiological hearing responses of the central auditory pathways of patients with moderate to severe OSA.

Materials and Methods

There were 31 adults (21 men and 10 women), aged 20 to 70 years, of which 18 were from the group with and 13 from the one without CPAP. All patients underwent three assessments: the first one performed immediately after CPAP prescription; the second, 3 months later; and the third, 6 months after the initial assessment. The Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), the Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire-10 (FOSQ-10), auditory brainstem response (ABR), and long-latency auditory evoked potentials (LLAEP) were used for these assessments.

Results

The ESS did not detect any changes in excessive daytime sleepiness levels and the FOSQ-10 showed no improvement in either group. Analysis from ABR revealed a high proportion of altered results in both groups at the three assessment times. During the LLAEP, it was observed that the CPAP group exhibited reduced P2 latencies compared with the non-CPAP group in the second assessment. However, this improvement was not sustained in the subsequent assessment, possibly attributed to OSA-induced damage.

Conclusion

Treatment with CPAP for 6 months did not improve the degree of sleepiness, functional quality of sleep, or electrophysiological response of hearing, demonstrating that OSA can irreversibly harm the individual.

Keywords

sleep apnea obstructive - continuous positive airway pressure - sleepiness - sleep quality - evoked potentials auditory


Publication History

Received: 01 October 2024

Accepted: 07 February 2025

Article published online:
07 July 2025

© 2025. Brazilian Sleep Academy. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

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Bibliographical Record
Marisa Mizrahi Farber, Liliane Aparecida Fagundes Silva, Geraldo Lorenzi-Filho, Carla Gentile Matas. Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure on the Degree of Sleepiness, Functional Quality of Sleep, and Electrophysiological Hearing Responses in Individuals with Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Sleep Sci ; : s00451809060.
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1809060