Citation

Pellinen J, Cheng CK, Rodriguez AJ (2019) Positive Airway Pressure Compliance in Patients with Epilepsy and Obstructive Sleep Apnea. Int J Neurol Neurother 6:087. doi.org/10.23937/2378-3001/1410087

Copyright

© 2019 Pellinen J, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Brief Report | OPEN ACCESS DOI: 10.23937/2378-3001/1410087

Positive Airway Pressure Compliance in Patients with Epilepsy and Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Jacob Pellinen MD1*, Christopher K Cheng MD2,3 and Alcibiades J Rodriguez MD1

1Department of Neurology, NYU Langone Health, New York, USA

2Huntington Memorial Hospital, Pasadena CA, USA

3Methodist Hospital, Arcadia, CA, USA

Abstract

Background

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) affects approximately one third of patients with epilepsy. Treatment with Continuous Positive Airway pressure (CPAP) is associated with improved seizure control, but is difficult for patients to tolerate. Patients with epilepsy and co morbid OSA may be at higher risk of recurrent seizures if they are noncompliant with CPAP. This study investigates short-term compliance with CPAP therapy in patients with OSA and epilepsy, as this can predict long-term adherence. Identifying factors influencing compliance rates in this population may help improve compliance and reduce seizure recurrence rate in this population. We also investigated the impact of epilepsy on sleep, and the possible effects this has on CPAP compliance.