Study Objectives: To determine the frequency of sleep disordered breathing (SDB) in ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke and transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients by meta-analysis. Methods: A systematic literature search using Medline, EM-BASE and CINAHL and a manual review of references through December 2008 was conducted using specific search terms. The frequency of SDB stratified by apnea hypopnea index (AHI) was extracted by the author. Weighted averages using a random-effects model are reported with 95% confidence intervals. Results: Twenty-nine articles evaluating patients with auto-CPAP, limited-channel sleep study, or full polysomnography were included in this study. In meta-analysis of 2,343 ischemic or hemorrhagic stroke and TIA patients, the frequency of SDB with AHI > 5 was 72% and with AHI > 20 was 38%. Only 7% of the SDB was primarily central apnea. There was no significant difference in SDB prevalence by event type, timing after stroke, or type of monitoring. Males had a higher percentage of SDB (AHI > 10) than females (65% compared to 48% p = 0.001). Patients with recurrent strokes had a higher percentage of SDB (AHI > 10) than initial strokes (74% compared to 57% p = 0.013). Patients with unknown etiology of stroke had a higher and cardioembolic etiology a lower percentage of SDB than other etiologies. Conclusions: SDB is very common in stroke patients irrespective of type of stroke or timing after stroke and is typically obstructive in nature. Since clinical history alone does not identify many patients with SDB, sleep studies should be considered in all stroke and TIA patients.

A stepped-care approach to smoking cessation increased short-but not long-term point-prevalent abstinence in patients with CAD. For improvement of long-term effectiveness, refinement of the timing and content of stepped-care interventions needs to occur.

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Many types of positive airway pressure (PAP) devices are used to treat sleep-disordered breathing including obstructive sleep apnea, central sleep apnea, and sleep-related hypoventilation. These include continuous PAP, autoadjusting CPAP, bilevel PAP, adaptive servoventilation, and volume-assured pressure support. Noninvasive PAP has significant leak by design, which these devices adjust for in different manners. Algorithms to provide pressure, detect events, and respond to events vary greatly between the types of devices, and vary among the same category between companies and different models by the same company. Many devices include features designed to improve effectiveness and patient comfort. Data collection systems can track compliance, pressure, leak, and efficacy. Understanding how each device works allows the clinician to better select the best device and settings for a given patient. This paper reviews PAP devices, including their algorithms, settings, and features.