Symptoms During CPAP Therapy Are the Major Reason for Contacting the Sleep Unit Between Two Routine Contacts

摘要

Study Objectives:The demand for continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy outpaces available resources in most health care settings. We sought to evaluate predictors of nonroutine CPAP follow-up visits to improve resource utilization.Methods:We randomly analyzed 1,141 of the 2,446 patients who had received at least 1 year of CPAP therapy. Reasons for contacts, type (routine = R, nonroutine = NR), and mode (face-to-face or not, physician, nurse) were collected.Results:A total of 771 patients were classified R, and 370 NR. Age, profession, and sex did not affect the NR frequency. Symptoms increased the odds ratio for NR 12.1-fold, somnolence 34.8-fold, and suffocation at night 10.4-fold. Patients with nonroutine reasons abandoned CPAP therapy significantly (7.6-fold) more frequently than patients with routine reasons.Conclusions:Symptoms during CPAP therapy predicted the nonroutine contacts well. In line with this, patients with symptoms have become a priority follow-up group, and could constitute the only follow-up policy when dealing with insufficient medical resources.