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Kamal, Tasnia

University of British Columbia

Introduction: There are no reliable predictors of treatment outcomes for oral appliance therapy (OAT) in treating obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The purpose of this study is to determine if baseline snoring can be used as a reliable predictor of treatment outcomes for OAT. Methods: This retrospective study extracted snoring data from two trials investigating the efficacy of the mandibular advancement device (MAD) and tongue stabilizing device (TSD) to treat OSA. Both trials collected data before and after treatment with a Level III sleep monitor. Only adult participants diagnosed with OSA with completed sleep studies before and after treatment with OAT were included. Each sleep study generated a report summarizing the snoring outcomes and respiratory events of the night, including the Respiratory Effort Index (REI). Patients were dichotomized as either a treatment responder or non-responder; patients with at least a 50% reduction in REI from baseline were considered treatment responders. Baseline snoring of treatment responders were then compared to the non-responders. Results: There were 34 participants in the MAD trial and 12 in the TSD trial. The MAD and TSD had a sight decrease in snoring loudness, however only the MAD had a significant decrease in the number of snoring events by 54%. There were no significant differences in baseline snoring between treatment responders and non-responders for either the MAD or the TSD. However, for the MAD, there was a significant negative correlation between baseline number of snoring events, loudness, and duration with change in REI. These results indicate that the more severe baseline snoring, the less change in REI after treatment with MAD. Baseline snoring was not a strong predictor of treatment outcomes for the TSD. Conclusions: The MAD and TSD can manage both primary and OSA related snoring, however the main improvement will be seen in the reduction of snoring events for the MAD. Baseline number of snoring events, loudness, duration were seen as better predictors of treatment outcomes for the MAD than the TSD. However, future studies are still necessary to validate the clinical merit of these results.

Text

2024-08-19

Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International

http://hdl.handle.net/2429/88973

Craniofacial Science

University of British Columbia

UBCV

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/