Treatment With CPAP: An Overnight Cure for Sleep Apnea?

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy uses a machine to help a person who has obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) breathe more easily during sleep. A CPAP machine increases air pressure in your throat so that your airway does not collapse when you breathe in. When you use CPAP, your bed partner may sleep better too.

You use CPAP at home every night while you sleep. The CPAP machine will have one of the following:

• A mask that covers your nose and mouth
• A mask that covers your nose only—called nasal continuous positive airway pressure, or NCPAP (this type of mask is most common)
• Prongs that fit into your nose

See a picture of CPAP.

You may want to try similar machines that have automatically adjustable air pressure or air pressures that are different when you breathe in than when you breathe out.

Why it is done
CPAP is the most effective nonsurgical treatment for obstructive sleep apnea. It is the first treatment choice and the most widely used.

• Doctors use CPAP to treat people who have moderate to severe sleep apnea.
• CPAP is the treatment of choice for people who have sleep apnea and coronary artery disease (CAD) or heart failure.
• Doctors also use CPAP to treat mixed sleep apnea.

How well it works
Overall, CPAP is effective for moderate and severe obstructive sleep apnea:

• Research shows that continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) decreases daytime sleepiness, especially in those with moderate to severe sleep apnea. But CPAP may not be as effective for people who have mild sleep apnea.
• Studies show that in people who have moderate to severe sleep apnea, nasal continuous positive airway pressure (NCPAP) lowers blood pressure during both the day and the night.
• People with coronary artery disease who use CPAP for sleep apnea are less likely to have heart problems such as heart failure.