• J Grenèche, J Krieger, F Bertrand, C Erhardt, A Muzet, and P Tassi.
• Laboratoire d'Imagerie et de Neurosciences Cognitives (LINC CNRS), Strasbourg, France. Jerome.Greneche@linc.u-strasbg.fr
• Clin Neurophysiol. 2011 May 1; 122 (5): 958-65.

ObjectiveTo determine whether sleepiness and its evolution over sustained wakefulness could be reversed by nasal continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy in patients with obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS).MethodsTwelve OSAHS patients underwent three 32-h sessions of study: one before CPAP therapy (T0), the second (T3) and the third (T6), respectively, after 3 and 6 months of therapy. Each session included one night of sleep followed by 24 h of sustained wakefulness, during which EEG recordings and subjective ratings were performed every hour.ResultsThe waking EEG in treated OSAHS patients was partially improved after 3 months of CPAP and their subjective complaint of sleepiness was normalized after 6 months. Theta power (3.9-7.8 Hz) was decreased as well as its time course during the diurnal period but beta power (12.7-29.2 Hz) remained higher.ConclusionsCPAP partially reverses waking EEG abnormalities in OSAHS patients with reduced theta activity after 3 months and removes the subjective complaint of sleepiness after 6 months. Nevertheless, the persistence of increased beta activity in treated patients suggests that efforts to stay awake remain strong after CPAP treatment.SignificanceCPAP influences the EEG's time course over sustained wakefulness in a frequency-specific manner in OSAHS patients.Copyright © 2010 International Federation of Clinical Neurophysiology. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

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