Mouth Leak is Associated with Sleep Fragmentation During Nasal CPAP Treatment of OSA and May Be Detected by Leak Waveform Analysis

Mouth air leak is a major cause of low adherence to nasal CPAP in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). However, CPAP reports do not distinguish mouth from mask leak. We hypothesized that mouth air leak is terminated abruptly by an arousal from sleep and mouth closing that can be detected by CPAP leak waveform analysis.