Randomized controlled trials (RCT) have not demonstrated a role for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on the secondary prevention of major cardiovascular events in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. However, participants in RCTs are substantially different from real-world patients. Therefore, we aimed to assess the effect of CPAP treatment on major cardiovascular events in real-world OSA patients.

Population-based longitudinal observational study including all OSA patients with an active CPAP prescription at the beginning of 2011 in Catalonia, Spain, that terminated CPAP treatment during 2011 and did not have CPAP prescriptions between 2012-2015; and propensity-score-matched OSA patients that continued CPAP treatment until the end of 2015 or death. Adjusted hazard ratios were used to assess the association between CPAP treatment and overall and cardiovascular mortality, cardiovascular hospitalizations, or major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs).

3638 CPAP terminators and 10,914 propensity-score-matched continuators were included (median age 67 [57–77] years, 71.4% male). During a median follow-up of 47.9 months CPAP continuators showed a lower risk of cardiovascular death than terminators (hazard ratio [HR]: 0.61; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.50–0.75) after adjusting by age, sex and key comorbidities. Similar results were found for cardiovascular hospitalizations (HR: 0.87; 95% CI: 0.76–0.99) and MACEs (HR: 0.84; 95% CI: 0.75–0.95).

CPAP treatment continuation could be associated with a significantly lower risk of major cardiovascular events in real-world OSA patients. This result highlights the importance of including real-world patients in studies on OSA.