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The impact of mouth-taping in mouth-breathers with mild obstructive sleep apnea: a preliminary study
Single-arm pilot (n=20 mild OSA mouth-breathers) using 3M silicone tape during sleep for 1 week: median AHI fell 8.3→4.7 events/h (~47%) with parallel snoring-index and oxygen-desaturation improvements on home sleep tests.
Design
- Population: mouth-breathers with mild OSA who tolerated mouth sealing
- Intervention: 3M silicone hypoallergenic tape nightly for 1 week between baseline and follow-up ApneaLink home sleep tests
- Responder rule (authors): ≥50% relative drop in snoring index vs baseline
Primary quantitative shifts (medians)
- AHI: 8.3 → 4.7 events/h (≈47% relative drop, p = 0.0002); supine AHI 9.4 → 5.5 (p = 0.0001)
- Snoring index: 303.8 → 121.1 events/h (≈47%, p = 0.0002)
- Oxygen desaturation index: 8.7 → 5.8 (p = 0.0003); lowest SpO₂ 82.5% → 87% (p = 0.049)
- Responder share: 13 / 20 (65%)
Limits
No sham control, tiny n, short duration, HST not full in-lab polysomnography—promising mechanistic / pilot tier only; read next to Rhee et al. 2025 systematic map for safety context.
Outcomes
- Median AHI 8.3 → 4.7 events/h (~47% relative reduction, p = 0.0002) after 1 week; supine AHI 9.4 → 5.5 (p = 0.0001).
- Median snoring index ~47% lower (303.8 → 121.1 events/h, p = 0.0002).
- 65% met author-defined snoring-index responder criterion (13/20).