Healio: CPAP alone did not improve hepatic steatosis and fibrosis in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease and obstructive sleep apnea, researchers reported in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

“In recent years, the common pathogenic mechanisms in NAFLD and OSA have attracted much research interest and stimulated studies of the effects of chronic intermittent hypoxemia and OSA-related parameters to the severity of NAFLD,” Susanna S.S. Ng, MBChB, assistant professor in the department of medicine and therapeutics at The Chinese University of Hong Kong and SH Ho Sleep Apnea Management Center, and colleagues wrote.

Researchers evaluated 120 patients with NAFLD and OSA, which was defined by respiratory event index of 5 or more hours. Patients were randomly assigned to an auto-adjusting CPAP group (n = 60; mean age, 55 years; 51.7% men), with a pressure range of 4 cm to 20 cm H2O, or a subtherapeutic CPAP group (n = 60; mean age, 55 years; 61.7% men), with the pressure fixed at 4 cm H2O.

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