Memory Foam Pillow as an Intervention in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Preliminary Randomized Study

Vasileios T Stavrou; Yiannis Koutedakis; Kyriaki Astara; George D Vavougios; Eirini Papayianni; Ilias T Stavrou; Fotini Bardaka; Chaido Pastaka; Konstantinos I Gourgoulianis

doi:10.3389/fmed.2022.842224

Memory Foam Pillow as an Intervention in Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome: A Preliminary Randomized Study

Front Med (Lausanne). 2022 Mar 9:9:842224. doi: 10.3389/fmed.2022.842224. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Laboratory of Cardio-Pulmonary Testing and Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.
² School of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, University of Thessaly, Trikala, Greece.
³ Institute of Sport, Faculty of Education Health and Wellbeing, University of Wolverhampton, Walsall, United Kingdom.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cyprus, Lefkosia, Cyprus.
⁵ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Thessaly, Larissa, Greece.

Abstract

Specific pillow use is a seldom studied or controlled factor in the setting of sleep disordered breathing. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of different pillows [own pillow (OP), memory foam pillow (MFP), generic laboratory pillow (LP)] on polysomnography (PSG)-derived parameters in patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). Thirty-two consecutive patients with OSAS were randomly allocated into two groups with randomized pillow usage [Group A: 3 h with LP and 3 h with OP (Age: 53.8 ± 12.5 years, BMI: 32.1 ± 4.6 kg/m²); Group B: 3 h with LP and 3 h with MFP (Age: 52.0 ± 6.3 years, BMI: 30.6 ± 2.2 kg/m²)]. Statistically significant differences between pillow types were detected in desaturation index and heart rate. In Group B (with MFP), a statistically significant decrease of 47.0 ± 15.9% was observed in snoring events (p < 0.05) and 10.6 ± 6.7% in their duration (p < 0.05) compared to LP. On the other hand, group A with OP recorded a decrease of 29.1 ± 32.1% in snoring events and 32.5 ± 33.1% in duration, but these values were not statistically significant (p > 0.05) compared to LP. These findings indicate that pillow type and usage, often uncontrolled in OSAS studies (contribution to the field), may impact several PSG parameters and are related to a snoring subtype of the syndrome. Secondly, they indicate that a focus on the treatment of the snoring OSAS subtype warrants further dedicated investigation.

Keywords: desaturation; memory foam pillow; pillow; sleep quality; snoring.