Influence of continuous positive airway pressure on lipid profiles of obstructive sleep apnea: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: To investigate the influence of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on lipid profiles of the patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in this meta-analysis. Methods: Relevant studies reporting the correlation between CPAP and lipid profiles of OSA patients were searched in Pubmed, Cochrane Library and Embase before January 1, 2021. Data of eligible studies were extracted and analyzed using the fixed-effect or random-effect model. Standard mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (95% CI) were calculated to assess such influence. Subgroup analysis based on CPAP duration was further performed. STATA 12.0 was used in this meta-analysis. Results: A total of 12 independent randomized controlled studies involved 1129 OSA patients were recruited in this meta-analysis. The analyzed lipid profiles included total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipoprotein (LDL) and high density lipoprotein (HDL). CPAP was not correlated to TC (SMD = -0.07, 95% CI = -0.33 to 0.19), TG (SMD = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.19 to 0.17), LDL (SMD = -0.01, 95% CI = -0.23 to 0.21) and HDL (SMD = 0.10, 95% CI = -0.03 to 0.22) in OSA patients. Moreover, CPAP duration (=12 weeks; >12 weeks; <12 weeks) also did not influence lipid profiles of OSA patients as well. Conclusions: Regardless of the treatment in CPAP duration, it doses does not influence lipid profiles of OSA patients, including TC, TG, LDL and HDL. The results are inconsistent with previous findings, which should be further validated in the multi-center, long-term randomized controlled trials.