Effect of speech therapy as adjunct treatment to continuous positive airway pressure on the quality of life of patients with obstructive sleep apnea
2013, São Paulo, Brazil, Randomized Controlled Trial, PMID: 23702236, Giovana Diaferia, Luciana Badke, Rogerio Santos-Silva, Silvana Bommarito, Sergio Tufik, Lia Bittencourt, -Source-
Background: Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) exhibit reduced quality of life (QoL) due to their daytime symptoms that restricted their social activities. The available data for QoL after treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) are inconclusive, and few studies have assessed QoL after treatment with speech therapy or other methods that increase the tonus of the upper airway muscles or with a combination of these therapies. The aim of our study was to assess the effect of speech therapy alone or combined with CPAP on QoL in patients with OSA using three different questionnaires.
Our results suggest that speech therapy alone as well as in association with CPAP might be an alternative treatment for the improvement of QoL in patients with OSA.
December 7, 2022