Research

Adherence

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the recommended first-line treatment for stable ambulatory patients with OHS who also have severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA).

If you have OHS and severe sleep apnea, CPAP is the standard first treatment. You need to use it every night. While it can be uncomfortable at first, it is necessary to keep your airways open and manage your breathing until weight loss interventions can potentially resolve the underlying syndrome.

WeakSupportsVERY_LOW confidence
For stable ambulatory patients diagnosed with OHS and concomitant severe OSA (apnea–hypopnea index > 30 events/h), we suggest initiating first-line treatment with CPAP therapy rather than NIV
Babak Mokhlesi et al. · American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine · 2019

Why this rating

The guideline states 'very low level of certainty in the evidence'.

Source

Evaluation and Management of Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome. An Official American Thoracic Society Clinical Practice Guideline

Babak Mokhlesi et al. · American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine · 2019

DOI 10.1164/rccm.201905-1071st

Meta-analysis · 31 studiesCited 272×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

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