Partners of patients with sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome: effect of CPAP treatment on sleep quality and quality of life

Background - The sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome (SAHS) causes snoring, apn oeas, and restlessness during sleep which partners frequently complain abou t. A study was undertaken to determine the impact on partners of SAHS and o f treatment of the patient with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Methods - Forty nine partners and patients with SAHS booked for CPAP treatm ent completed in house and validated questionnaires (Pittsburgh sleep quali ty index, Short Form 36 self-reported health status) before the patient sta rted treatment. Twenty three couples in whom the index SAHS patient had no driving problems were recruited to a randomised crossover trial with 1 mont h limbs of CPAP and placebo capsule. At the end of each limb the partners' sleep was monitored by home polysomnography (PSG) and questionnaires were c ompleted. Results - Before treatment partners frequently reported moderate to severe disturbance from patient snoring/apnoeas/restlessness and had poor sleep qu ality and self-reported health status. In the crossover study (22 completed ) the partners' objective sleep quality did not differ between CPAP and pla cebo, but they reported benefit from treatment of the patients with CPAP in subjective sleep quality (p=0.05) and disturbance to sleep (p=0.03). The r eported change in partners' sleep quality between pre-study and following C PAP treatment correlated positively with CPAP use (r=0.5, p=0.01). Conclusions - Partners of patients with SAHS have poor sleep quality and se lf-reported health status but only subjective sleep quality benefits from t reatment of the patient with CPAP.