WellO2 Oy

Background:
Obstructive sleep apnea is one of our common diseases and up to 80% of patients are estimated to be undiagnosed. Its main risk factors are overweight, age, male gender, menopause, small jaw, sedative medications / drugs and alcohol. The most important treatment for sleep apnea is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). However, not all patients adapt or benefit from device therapy, and up to about 60% stop using the device. Underlying sleep apnea are mechanisms other than anatomical factors such as respiratory wake sensitivity, loop gain control function, and upper respiratory tract muscle activation response and efficiency. Depending on which of these mechanisms dominates as the cause of sleep apnea, the patient's phenotype may vary and CPAP device therapy may not be the correct form of treatment for all patients. Therefore, new targeted therapies should be developed.
The WellO2 breathing training device performs back-pressure steam breathing training during the inhalation and exhalation phases. WellO2 effectively exercises the power of the inspiratory muscles, increases the inspiratory muscles, reduces the feeling of dyspnea due to exertion, increases the economy of respiration and delays inhalation muscles. It is a drug-free treatment and easy to use. The use of the WellO2 ventilator has not been previously studied in sleep apnea patients.

The purpose of this investigation is to obtain more information on the efficacy and safety of respiratory training methods with WellO2 in patients with asthma and COPD. Such a training may offer an additional, non-pharmacological way for treatment and therapy of asthma and COPD.