The diet group also lost an average of 18.7 kg in weight compared with 1.1 kg in the control group over the nine-week period. Twenty-two out of 30 (73%) patients in the diet group were no longer obese at the end of the study, whereas all control patients remained obese.

Five out of 30 (17%) patients in the diet group were also disease-free by the end of the study, and half had only mild disease, whereas all patients in the control group except one still had moderate to severe disease.

Treatment with a low energy diet improves obstructive sleep apnoea in obese men, with the greatest effect in patients with severe disease, conclude the authors. Long term treatment studies are needed to validate weight loss as a primary treatment strategy for obstructive sleep apnoea.

This trial shows that it is possible to help patients with this condition lose weight through lifestyle modification, and that doing this has a good chance of reducing the severity of their disease below the level of harm, say two Australian based researchers in an accompanying editorial. Well designed clinical trials are now needed to convince policy makers, patients, and practising clinicians of the long term usefulness of these tailored approaches, they write.

Source: BMJ-British Medical Journal