• Ludovico Messineo, Roberto Magri, Luciano Corda, Laura Pini, Luigi Taranto-Montemurro, and Claudio Tantucci.
• Respiratory Medicine and Sleep Laboratory, Department of Experimental and Clinical Sciences, University of Brescia and Spedali Civili, Piazzale Spedali Civili 1, 25000, Brescia, Italy. ludovico.messineo@yahoo.it.
• Sleep Breath. 2017 Dec 1; 21 (4): 861-868.

BackgroundObstructive sleep apnea is a common disorder characterized by multiple pathogenetic roots. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is almost always prescribed as the first-line treatment to all patients regardless of the heterogeneous pathophysiology, because it mechanically splints the airways open and reduces the collapsibility of the upper airway. Despite its high efficacy, CPAP is burdened by poor adherence and compliance rates. In this pilot study, we treated OSA patients with composite approaches different than CPAP, tailoring the therapeutic choice on OSA phenotypic traits.MethodsWe used the CPAP dial down technique to assess phenotypic traits in eight OSA patients with BMI<35. According to these traits, patients received personalized therapies for 2-week period, after which we ran a second polygraphy to compare apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) before and after therapy.ResultsTwo weeks of combined behavioral and pharmacological therapy induced a significant reduction in mean AHI, which dropped from 26 ± 15 at baseline to 9 ± 7 post-treatment (p = 0.01). Furthermore, there was a significant reduction in mean ODI (p = 0.03) and subjective sleepiness (p = 0.01) documented by Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) from baseline to post-treatment recordings.ConclusionsTreating OSA patients with a personalized combination of pharmacological and behavioral therapies according to phenotypic traits leads to a significant improvement in AHI, ODI, and subjective sleepiness.

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