Sleep Unit, Heart and Lung Center, Helsinki University Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.
Sleep Breath. 2024 Dec;28(6):2565-2570. doi: 10.1007/s11325-024-03159-1. Epub 2024 Sep 20.
The increasing incidence of sleep apnea has led to an increased workload for healthcare professionals. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the gold standard therapy for obstructive sleep apnea. To reduce the CPAP waiting list in public healthcare, we proposed a CPAP voucher for use in private clinics for CPAP initiation. This study evaluated the success rate of CPAP initiation via this voucher.
We selected patients from our sleep apnea clinic referred to CPAP initiation aged 18-80 years with no significant physical or psychological comorbidity. Three private clinics (A, B, C) accepted the CPAP voucher.
A total of 1922 patients fulfilled CPAP voucher criteria. Of these, we included 1604 patients (38% women). Mean BMI was 32 kg/m, mean age was 55 years, and mean apnea-hypopnea index was 34/h. Data were missing for 113 patients at the 1-year follow-up visit. Of the remaining 1491 patients, 1398 continued CPAP therapy beyond 1 year, indicating a CPAP therapy success rate of 94%. There were no significant differences between clinics in the number of patients staying on CPAP at 1 year after initiation.
A CPAP voucher may reduce the CPAP initiation waiting list in public healthcare with a good success rate.
睡眠呼吸暂停发病率的增加导致医疗保健专业人员的工作量增加。持续气道正压通气（CPAP）是治疗阻塞性睡眠呼吸暂停的金标准疗法。为了减少公共医疗保健中的 CPAP 等待名单，我们提出了一种 CPAP 代金券，用于私人诊所启动 CPAP。本研究评估了通过该代金券启动 CPAP 的成功率。
我们从我们的睡眠呼吸暂停诊所中选择了年龄在 18-80 岁之间、无明显身体或心理合并症的患者，这些患者被转诊进行 CPAP 启动。有 3 家私人诊所（A、B、C）接受 CPAP 代金券。
共有 1922 名患者符合 CPAP 代金券标准。其中，我们纳入了 1604 名患者（38%为女性）。平均 BMI 为 32kg/m，平均年龄为 55 岁，平均呼吸暂停低通气指数为 34/h。有 113 名患者在 1 年随访时数据缺失。在其余 1491 名患者中，有 1398 名患者在 1 年以上继续接受 CPAP 治疗，表明 CPAP 治疗成功率为 94%。在启动后 1 年，各诊所的 CPAP 治疗持续时间无显著差异。
CPAP 代金券可能会降低公共医疗保健中的 CPAP 启动等待名单，并具有良好的成功率。
