Exercise capacity in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

The association between obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) and exercise capacity is still not well determined. However, it is known that many OSAS patients present limited response to physical exercise. Such limitation, among other reasons, may be associated to the poor sleep quality that leads, mainly, to excessive daytime sleepiness. The aim of this study was to perform a literature review about exercise capacity in OSAS patients. The search was performed at the data basis Pubmed, LILACS and SciELO. We performed 3 searches in each data basis, with the following terms combination: “apnea” and “exercise” and “capacity”, “apnea” and “exercise” and “CPAP” and “apnea” and “cardiopulmonary” and “test”. Articles in Portuguese, English and Spanish would be included; with samples composed by OSAS patients treated or not. From the 108 articles identified, 24 filled the inclusion criteria and were then analyzed. In conclusion, exercise capacity seems to be diminished in OSAS patients and CPAP is associated to an improvement in physical performance