Education&ScienceEducational Article

Fixed CPAP at 10 cmH2O May Replace Manual Titration in Moderate to Severe OSA Patients: A Preliminary Randomised Controlled Trial

August 2025

Authors: Lu Wang, Yan Chen, Qishan Wei, Yingxin Wu, Cuizhen Huang, Shanfeng Liang, Joerg Steier, Peter Catcheside, Danny Eckert, Andrew Wellman, Yuanming Luo

Comment by Mark Lavercombe: In this pilot study, the authors attempted to identify an upper threshold of continuous positive airways pressure (CPAP) therapy at which the patient remains comfortable and expiratory effort measured by diaphragm and transversus abdominus electromyography (EMG) is not increased. After determining that 10 cmH2O appeared most appropriate, twenty five patients for whom a manually titrated CPAP pressure requirement of less than 10 cmH2O then had two nights of CPAP in random order: one at their titrated pressure and one at a fixed 10 cmH2O. Across a range of polysomnographic metrics, no significant difference was seen between titrated pressure and 10 cmH2O. This interesting work will require further study in other cohorts, given the relatively low body mass index in the volunteer participants.