The use of telemedicine in the management of continuous positive airway pressure for the treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea: a randomised controlled trial

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnoea is a condition whereby the airway partially or totally obstructs during sleep. Gold-standard treatment for moderate to severe OSA is continuous positive airway pressure. However, compliance with treatment is often poor with low hours of usage and patients stopping treatment.

Materials and Methods: A non-blinded single centre, randomised controlled trial was conducted with patients randomised to 1 of 3 Arms (Arm 1 standard care; Arm 2 modem; Arm 3 modem and app DreamMapper™). Ninety patients diagnosed with OSA requiring CPAP were recruited. Data, including CPAP compliance, apnoea/hypopnoea index and Epworth sleepiness score was collected at baseline, 14 days and 180 days post CPAP initiation.
Results: Of the group participants (N=90) 68% were male and 32% female with a mean age of 52.0 ± 13.13 years, mean Body Mass Index of 36.4 ± 7.91(kg/m²); mean ESS 10.19 ± 5.75 and mean AHI of 43.5 ± 21.92 (events/hour). There was no statistically significant difference between the three Arms in mean hours used in 24 hours at 14 days Arm 1 6.22 ± 2.15, Arm 2 5.47 ± 2.25 and Arm 3 6.44± 1.54 (p=0.256). There were also no statistically significant differences between the three Arms in mean hours used in 24 hours at 180 days Arm 1 6.20 ± 1.27, Arm 2 5.57 ± 1.49 and Arm 3 6.26 ± 1.29 (p=0.479).

Discussion and Conclusion: Compliance in CPAP treatment showed no significant differences between the three arms with high compliance seen in all arms.