Nocturnal nasal high-flow oxygen therapy in elderly patients with concomitant chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and obstructive sleep apnea

Purpose The coexistence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is known as "overlap syndrome" (OS). Patients with OS are usually older than patients with OSA alone, suffer from more profound oxygen desaturation during the obstructive events often accompanied by sustained nocturnal hypoventilation. Although oxygen-enriched positive airway pressure (PAP) is the treatment of choice in these patients, this therapy is often poorly tolerated particularly by the elderly. The aim of this study was to assess the usefulness of nocturnal oxygen therapy via nasal high flow (NHF-OT) as a possible alternative to PAP in patients with OS. Methods Patients > 65 years old with OS and nocturnal respiratory failure (time spent below SaO(2) 90% (T90) > 30%) had cardio-respiratory monitoring performed at baseline, during NHF-OT, or during conventional oxygen therapy (COT). Results A total of 40 patients were enrolled in the study. NHF-OT significantly reduced the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) in all patients compared to baseline and COT. The mean basal AHI was 25.4 +/- 8.6. During COT and NHF-OT, the AHI was 19.4 +/- 7 and 5.4 +/- 4.6, respectively (P < 0.001) and 19 patients reached an AHI < 5 during NHF-OT. The mean nocturnal SaO(2)% was 86.2 +/- 2.6 at baseline and at equivalent FiO(2) it significantly increased to 91.8 +/- 2.4 during COT and to 93.9 +/- 2.5 during NHF-OT (P < 0.001). The T90% was 48.7 +/- 20.1 at baseline, 16.8 +/- 11.7 during COT, and 8.8 +/- 8.0 during NHF-OT (P < 0.001). Conclusions In elderly patients with OS, nocturnal treatment with NHF-OT significantly reduces obstructive episodes and improves oxygenation. As the treatment is generally well tolerated compared to PAP, NHF-OT may be a possible alternative therapy in this subgroup of patients.