Improving adherence to treatment in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea

Abstract

Aim and Objective: Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) is the gold standard treatment for patients with obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Poor adherence to CPAP occurs frequently. We aimed to identify factors associated with poor adherence to CPAP. Methods: A retrospective review was performed in a UK sleep centre. All patients commenced on CPAP between January and March 2017 were included. Poor adherence was defined as Results: In total 179 patients with OSA were identified. The mean (± SD) age was 51.1 (± 12.4) years, 129 (76%) were male and the mean (± SD) BMI was 36.8 (± 7.4). The mean (± SD) Epwort sleepiness scale was 12.7 (±6.1) and the mean (± SD) ODI was 32.6 (±22.9). Poor adherence occurred in 95 (53%) patients. The risk of poor adherence was significantly increased in patients established on a nasal mask (P = 0.004) but not style of CPAP initiation or number of interventions. Poor adherence at 7 days was associated with poor adherence at 1 year (P Conclusion: Poor adherence to CPAP is common. Further studies are required to establish why patients with nasal masks are poorly adherent. Local interventions aimed at improving adherence appear to be ineffective in a proportion of patients. Novel interventions, targeted at patients who demonstrate early poor adherence may improve long term adherence to CPAP therapy.