The effects of continuous positive airway pressure therapy on mean platelet volume in patients with obstructive sleep apnea.

Previous studies have reported increased platelet activation and aggregation in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment has been shown to decrease platelet activation. We aimed to study the effects of nasal CPAP therapy has on MPV values in patients with severe OSA. Thirty-one patients (21 men; mean age 53.8 ± 9.2 years) with severe OSA (AHI > 30 events/hour) constituted the study group. An age, gender and body mass index (BMI) matched control group was composed 25 subjects (14 men; mean age 49.6 ± 8.5 years) without OSA (AHI < 5 events/hour). We measured MPV values in patients with severe OSA and control subjects and we measured MPV values after 6 months of CPAP therapy in severe OS patients. The median (IQR) MPV values were significantly higher in patients with severe OSA than in control group (8.5 [8.3-9.1] vs. 8.3 [7.5-8.8] fL; p = 0.03). The platelet counts were significantly lower in patients with severe OSA than in control group (217.8 ± 45.9 vs. 265.4 ± 64.0 × 10⁹/L; p = 0.002). The six months of CPAP therapy caused significant reductions in median (IQR) MPV values in patients with severe OSA (8.5 [8.3-9.1] to 7.9 [7.4-8.2] fL; p < 0.001). Six months of CPAP therapy caused significant increase in platelet counts when compared with baseline values (217.8 ± 45.9 to 233.7 ± 60.6 × 10⁹/L; p < 0.001). We have found that the MPV values of patients with severe OSA were significantly higher than those of the control subjects and 6 months CPAP therapy caused significant reductions in the MPV values in patients with severe OSA.