Adherence to continuous positive airway pressure treatment in a cohort of elderly adults with newly diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea.

PURPOSE

To evaluate adherence to continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in elderly patients newly diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS).

METHODS

Consecutive patients ≥ 70 years attending one of the participating centers, requiring CPAP treatment and agreeing to participate, were included. Mean hours of CPAP during the first 5 months of treatment defined adherence as CPAP ≥ 4 h/day on 70% of nights over a 30-day period.

RESULTS

From January 2014 to April 2019, 262 patients aged between 76.7 and 87.7 years (mean age, 82.6 years) were included and fully evaluated; 224 (85.5%) were adherent. Mean adherence time was 6.9 h in adherent patients, vs 2 h in non-adherent patients (p < 0.0001). Compared to non-adherent patients, adherent patients tended to have higher baseline AHI without reaching statistical significance (44.7 vs 39.5, p = 0.0913). They less frequently presented with dementia (3.7% vs 21.6%, p < 0.0001). The somnolence (ODSI and Epworth), nocturia, and depression (QD2A) scores of adherent patients improved significantly from baseline to the fifth month: ODSI decreased from 7 to 3.7 (p < 0.0001), Epworth from 8.7 to 6.2 (p < 0.0001), nocturia from 6.6 to 4.1 (p = 0.0015), and QD2A from 3.7 to 3 (p = 0.0025). Many more patients in the non-adherent group used nasal plugs than in the adherent group (14.7% vs 2.1%, p = 0.0006).

CONCLUSION

The present real-world study showed the ability of newly diagnosed elderly adults (including the very old) to adhere to CPAP therapy and the benefit of 5 months' well-conducted CPAP treatment.

REGISTRATION NUMBER

Not applicable.