Trial of Auto Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP)

Background: In patients with obstructive sleep apnea, automatic continuous positive airway pressure machines (autoCPAP) are said to be capable of identifying various breathing abnormalities during sleep and to correct them by increasing progressively the positive pressure applied to the airway. Once breathing becomes normal, pressure slowly declines. AutoCPAP devices have never been tested in Phase I studies. The investigators hypothesised that normal breathing would not be recognised as such, and that pressure would increase even in a normal subject.