Impact of effective versus sham continuous positive airway pressure on liver injury in obstructive sleep apnoea: Data from randomized trials.

Jullian-Desayes I, Tamisier R, Zarski JP, Aron-Wisnewsky J, Launois-Rollinat SH

Abstract

Background And Objective

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) could be an independent risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurrence and progression. The impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on non-invasive markers of NAFLD has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 6-12 weeks of effective CPAP on the FibroMax test (comprising components including the SteatoTest, NashTest and FibroTest) through three randomized sham controlled studies.

Methods

The FibroMax test was performed in 103 obstructive sleep apnoea patients (apnoea + hypopnoea index > 15/h) enrolled in a randomized study comparing sham versus effective CPAP.

Results

At baseline, 40.4% of patients in the sham CPAP group and 45.5% in the CPAP group exhibited liver steatosis. Furthermore, 39.6% of patients in the sham CPAP group and 58.4% in the CPAP group displayed borderline or possible non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Six to twelve weeks of effective CPAP did not demonstrate any impact on reducing steatosis, NASH or liver fibrosis even after adjustment for gender, BMI, baseline apnoea + hypopnoea index and severity of liver injury.

Conclusion

A number of non-invasive markers of liver damage are increased in untreated obstructive sleep apnoea patients, potentially contributing to cardiometabolic risk, but they do not improve after 6-12 weeks of effective CPAP treatment.

Clinical Trial Registration

NCT01196845 (ADISAS), NCT00464659 (MneSAS) and NCT00669695 (StatinflaSAS) at ClinicalTrials.gov.

Keywords — author-chosen comorbidities, continuous positive airway pressure treatment, intermittent hypoxia, liver disease, obstructive sleep apnoea

MeSH — NLM indexing Biomarkers / blood Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Female Humans Male Middle Aged Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / blood Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease / etiology Risk Factors Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / blood Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / complications Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / therapy Treatment Outcome