Research

Mixed

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy significantly reduces subjective and objective daytime sleepiness in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) compared to placebo.

If you have obstructive sleep apnea, using CPAP therapy nightly will significantly reduce your daytime sleepiness compared to doing nothing or using a placebo treatment. This benefit is most pronounced if your sleep apnea is severe. While previous reviews questioned its effectiveness, current evidence from multiple randomized trials confirms CPAP works to improve both how sleepy you feel and objective sleep tests.

GoodSupportsHIGH confidence
Continuous positive airway pressure therapy significantly improves subjective and objective measures of sleepiness in patients with OSA across a diverse range of populations.
Sanjay R. Patel et al. · Archives of Internal Medicine · 2003

Why this rating

Meta-analysis of 12 randomized controlled trials, though heterogeneity was high.

Source

Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy for Treating gess in a Diverse Population With Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Sanjay R. Patel et al. · Archives of Internal Medicine · 2003

DOI 10.1001/archinte.163.5.565

Meta-analysis · 12 studiesCited 463×
Read the paper
DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10

This is one finding among thousands. Every one is graded and traced to its source, so you can see what the evidence actually supports. Browse the research →