Impact of effective versus sham continuous positive airway pressure on liver injury in obstructive sleep apnoea: Data from randomized trials.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) could be an independent risk factor for non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurrence and progression. The impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on non-invasive markers of NAFLD has not been studied. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of 6-12 weeks of effective CPAP on the FibroMax test (comprising components including the SteatoTest, NashTest and FibroTest) through three randomized sham controlled studies.

METHODS: The FibroMax test was performed in 103 obstructive sleep apnoea patients (apnoea + hypopnoea index > 15/h) enrolled in a randomized study comparing sham versus effective CPAP.

RESULTS: At baseline, 40.4% of patients in the sham CPAP group and 45.5% in the CPAP group exhibited liver steatosis. Furthermore, 39.6% of patients in the sham CPAP group and 58.4% in the CPAP group displayed borderline or possible non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH). Six to twelve weeks of effective CPAP did not demonstrate any impact on reducing steatosis, NASH or liver fibrosis even after adjustment for gender, BMI, baseline apnoea + hypopnoea index and severity of liver injury.

CONCLUSION: A number of non-invasive markers of liver damage are increased in untreated obstructive sleep apnoea patients, potentially contributing to cardiometabolic risk, but they do not improve after 6-12 weeks of effective CPAP treatment.

CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT01196845 (ADISAS), NCT00464659 (MneSAS) and NCT00669695 (StatinflaSAS) at ClinicalTrials.gov.