Effect of CPAP Therapy on LPR Among Patients With OSAS

Effect of CPAP Therapy on Symptoms and Signs of Laryngopharyngeal Reflux Among Patients With Obstructive Sleep Apnea

This study will investigate the changes in the reflux symptom index (RSI) and reflux finding score (RFS) among patients with obstructive sleep apnea after regular humidified CPAP therapy. Since these two diseases have strong associations then one may consider the possible benefits from therapy in between them.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients have to stop proton pump inhibitors (PPI) therapy 1 month before enrollment in the study.
• To be eligible as LPR patients in our study, patients must have presented a RSI score > 13 and a RFS score > 7. These thresholds were highly correlated with pathological pH monitoring (pH < 4)

Exclusion Criteria:

• Noncompliance for CPAP Use: According to the standard Medicare criteria to define CPAP compliance, the patients who demonstrated CPAP use ≥ 4 h/ night for ≥ 70% of the nights are considered compliant.
• Antireflux therapy during the period of the study.