Most with OSA see improvement one year after bariatric surgery

Last Updated: 2017-02-01

By Reuters Staff

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - One year after bariatric surgery, most patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have major improvements in their symptoms, new research shows.

And OSA was cured in 45% of patients, Dr. Pipsa Peromaa-Haavisto of Hatanpaa City Hospital in Tampere, Finland, and colleagues report in Sleep Medicine online January 12.

The researchers looked at 187 patients who underwent laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) at three Finnish hospitals. At baseline, 132 (71%) had OSA, including 22% with severe symptoms, 18% with moderate OSA, and 31% with mild OSA.

Cardiorespiratory recordings at one year were available for 164 patients, 72 of whom had OSA; 45% of patients had no OSA symptoms, 7% had severe OSA, 13% had moderate OSA, and 35% had mild OSA. The average apnea-hypopnea index (AHA) had dropped from 27.8 events per hour to 9.9 events per hour (p<0.001).

While 90% of men had OSA at baseline, this had decreased to 52% one year later. Eight percent of the patients developed de novo OSA,

The researchers found no predictors for whether or not a patient's OSA would improve with surgery.

"Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for OSA, but it is impossible to predict which patients will have persisting symptoms," Dr. Peromaa-Haavisto and colleagues write. "Postoperative cardiorespiratory recordings are needed in order to find the approximately 20% of patients who still have persistent moderate or severe OSA 12 months after surgery."

Dr. Peromaa-Haavisto was not available for an interview by press time.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2kqi9JJ

Sleep Med 2017.