[Sleep apnea. Improved quality of life with continuous positive pressure respiration].

Patients with obstructive sleep apnoea complain of excessive daytime sleepiness and unwanted sleep attacks. Treatment with nasal continuous positive airway pressure, CPAP, normalizes the sleep pattern and the daytime symptoms disappear. Twenty-five patients evaluated their situation by questionnaire before and during CPAP treatment. Treatment improved their working capacity and their social life. Almost all patients report treatment as giving them a new life, i.e. vastly improving their quality of life. CPAP treatment is cheap.