Usefulness of Nasal Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Treatment in Patients With a First Ever Stroke and Sleep Apnea Syndrome

MAIN AIMS: to analyze the efficacy of nasal CPAP treatment in patients with ischemic first-ever stroke and Sleep Apnea Syndrome (SAS) in terms of: early neurological outcome, functional recovery, quality of life influence, stroke recurrence and survival.

SECONDARY AIMS: to evaluate the feasibility of the treatment in this type of patients at short and long time.

DESIGN: clinical randomized case-control study.

PATIENTS: younger than 75 years with a First-Ever stroke with at least one of the following criteria: snoring, observed apnea, Hypertension or Ischemic Cardiopathy.

MEASUREMENTS: protocol to define subtype stroke and parenchymatous and vascular location; sleep questionnaire (including Epworth Sleepiness Scale); Respiratory Polysomnography (RPSG). If RPSG shows an AHI > 20, with predominant obstructive events, patients will be randomized in a CONTROL GROUP (conventional treatment) and a TREATMENT GROUP (with Nasal CPAP). Follow up for both groups at 1, 3, 12 and 24 months will include: early neurological outcome, body mass index (BMI), blood pressure (BP), functional recovery (Barthel Index/Canadian Scale), quality of life (SF36), recurrences, vital status. Nasal CPAP titration will be performed by means of an automatic system (Autoset Portable ST). Compliance will be recorded. If a negative RPSG is obtained (AHI < 10) (NO SAS GROUP) or with AHI < 20 (mild SAS) the usual treatment and the same follow up protocol will be established.

STATISTICS: the sample size is initially calculated in 10 patients for each group, considering this is part of a multicenter study including 8 centers. If no differences are found, depending on the statistical power the investigators will consider including more patients. The different groups will be compared for the analyzed variables with the corresponding tests.