Effect of an Anti-Supine Shirt for Treatment of Supine-related Obstructive Sleep Apnea

Background and Objective: To evaluate the effects of a t-shirt designed to prevent patients from sleeping supine (anti-supine shirt) on the frequency of apneas and hypopneas per hour of sleep (apnea-hypopnea index) in patients with supine-related obstructive sleep apnea. Methods: Twenty-seven consecutive patients found to have supine-related obstructive sleep apnea on a diagnostic polysomnogram were prescribed an anti-supine shirt and then underwent a follow up polysomnogram while wearing this shirt. We then compared the amount of supine sleep time and apnea-hypopnea index between the baseline and follow-up polysomnograms. Results: A comparison between the baseline and follow-up polysomnograms revealed that there was no significant difference in total sleep time (from 297.2 ± 76.5 to 289.8 ± 101.6 min, p=0.654), but there was a significant reduction in the amount of supine sleep time while wearing the anti-supine shirt (from 149.2 ± 82.9 to 21.3 ± 52.9 min, p<0.001). This was accompanied by a 55% reduction in the total apnea-hypopnea index (from 23.8 ± 8.0 to 10.7 ± 14.7, p<0.001) Conclusions: The anti-snore shirt reduced the severity of supine-related obstructive sleep apnea by reducing the amount of time spent sleeping supine.