Oral appliance therapy is as effective as CPAP for reducing blood pressure in patients with hypertension and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnoea, according to international cardiologists.

They found that patients using a mandibular advancement device (MAD) — which works by protruding the mandible, pulling the tongue forwards and widening the oropharynx — had a 2.5mmHg reduction in mean arterial blood pressure after six months compared with no change with CPAP.

“The between-group difference, favouring MAD, was particularly evident in asleep blood pressure, supporting the use of MAD as an effective first-line alternative to CPAP for reduction of blood pressure and cardiovascular risk in these patients,” the National University of Singapore-led team concludedd.

However, they stressed their findings only showed non-inferiority between the obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) treatments as their study was not designed to test superiority.