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 apnea (OSA) is a condition whereby the airway gets partially or totally obstructed during sleep. Gold standard treatment for moderate to severe OSA is continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). However, compliance with treatment is often poor, with low hours of usage and patients stopping treatment.Methods: A nonblinded, single-center, randomized controlled trial was conducted with patients randomized to 1 of 3 arms (arm 1, standard care; arm 2, modem; and arm 3, modem and DreamMapper (TM) app). Ninety patients diagnosed with OSA requiring CPAP were recruited. Data, including CPAP compliance, apnea/hypopnea index (AHI), and Epworth sleepiness score (ESS), were collected at baseline and 14 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/m(2)), mean ESS of 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 of CPAP usage 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 of CPAP usage 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 with CPAP treatment showed no significant differences between the three arms, with high compliance observed in all arms.