Study highlights risk of sleep apnea, power of CPAP therapy

SAN DIEGO – A new Resmed-supported study showing sleep apnea patients on CPAP therapy live longer will further fuel a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to increase awareness, says Carlos Nunez, M.D. 

The study, published in March in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine, found that sleep apnea patients on CPAP therapy have a 37% lower risk of dying from any cause compared to patients not on therapy and a 55% lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease. 

“Not only is CPAP the gold standard, but if you have sleep apnea and you don’t treat it, you’re putting yourself at risk,” said Nunez, Resmed’s chief medical officer. 

Awareness is already at an all-time high thanks to wearables helping people zero in on their sleep health and detect potential sleep apnea, and GLP-1s sending people to their primary care physicians to improve their overall health. 

Landmark study 

While previous studies "pointed in this direction” that CPAP therapy saves lives, Nunez said none have accounted for non-adherence and none have had the size and scope of this study, which was two years in the making, and analyzed data from 1 million sleep apnea patients worldwide across 30 studies. 

“It’s bold to use the word landmark in describing a study, but it’s true,” he said. “A large meta-analysis like this one is quite powerful and the results are astounding.” 

HME role 

With more people going to their PCPs to improve their health, device manufacturers and providers can “step in” to educate those PCPs on obstructive sleep apnea and the power of CPAP therapy, Nunez said. 

“The HME provider needs to think of this part of their world and step in,” he said. “What are the questions that PCPs should ask their patients about sleep? What information can PCPs provide them with about diagnosis and therapy? There is going to be an increasing number of people looking for this information.” 

Smooth process 

This strengthening of relationships with PCPs – Resmed recently shared during an earnings call that it is ramping up education to high-volume prescribers of GLP-1 drugs to reiterate that CPAP therapy remains the gold standard for treatment – will help to make sure the pathway from awareness to testing and diagnosis to treatment is smooth, Nunez says. 

"If people look at this study and see that it’s life or death and if it takes six to nine months to get (a sleep tested and, if needed, treatment), that’s not good,” he said.