Comparing Auto-adjustable Positive Airway Pressure to Continuous Positive Airway Pressure in Children With Sleep Apnea

This is a small clinical trial to test the feasibility of using APAP in children with sleep apnea.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is commonly used to treat OSA by delivering a predetermined amount of positive pressure to the patient's upper airway in order to reduce the collapsibility of airway structures during sleep. The commonly accepted method for determining the appropriate pressure setting for children with OSA is through an in-hospital overnight CPAP titration study. Another commonly used treatment modality in adults with OSA is auto-adjustable positive airway pressure (APAP), in which airway patency is maintained by adjusting pressure delivery through the night depending on the needs of the patient as determined by the device. Benefits of APAP compared with CPAP include the ability to initiate therapy without an inpatient CPAP titration study, resulting in more prompt establishment of treatment and cost-savings. Patient adherence may also be significantly improved as the pressure delivered is appropriate for sleep stage and patient position, resulting in greater patient comfort. Utility and efficacy of APAP compared to CPAP have never been evaluated in the pediatric population.

The aim of this study is to establish APAP as an effective means of assessing CPAP pressure for OSA in children, and to determine if APAP therapy confers better treatment adherence and quality of life compared to traditional CPAP. The investigators hypothesize that APAP can effectively approximate the pressure determined by CPAP titration study, that APAP is superior to fixed CPAP in terms of treatment success, and that adherence to therapy will be improved with APAP compared to CPAP.

Forty patients aged 5-20 years will be enrolled in the study. These subjects will be recruited from the pediatric pulmonary or pediatric sleep clinic at Cincinnati Children's Hospital. Patients who are suspected of having OSA will be referred in the usual manner to the sleep center for diagnostic sleep study (PSG). Following the establishment of OSA diagnosis and subsequent enrollment in the study, the subject will begin therapy with APAP which will continue for 4 to 8 weeks. In that period of time the clinically ordered in-hospital CPAP titration study will be completed. The subject will then be randomized to either traditional fixed pressure CPAP at the pressure determined by in-hospital titration or APAP. The subject will receive 4 weeks of treatment in the randomized group (CPAP or APAP) then crossover to 4 weeks in the alternate group (CPAP or APAP). Both patient and researcher will be blinded to the randomization of pressure modality. The total study period will range from 12-16 weeks.

Inclusion criteria

• 5 to 20 years of age
• apnea hypopnea index (AHI) of ≥5 or obstructive hypoventilation

Exclusion criteria

• significant cranio-facial abnormalities
• chromosomal abnormalities that would affect compliance
• cerebral palsy
• significant neurological disease or neuromuscular disease