Effectiveness of Cpap for healthy senior over80

[Montroberts]

Have heard negatives about cpap if over 80, comments

[LSAT]

I'm older than that and have had no problems whatsoever. Now in 14th year. What negatives are you referring to?

[chunkyfrog]

IMHO, the greatest danger would be the octogerarian being unwilling to participate--
Same as with apnea sufferers of any age.
Stubbornness is always a threat to good health.

[lazarus]

The fact that many of the elderly are not getting the practical help they need to make PAP work for them is not proof that the elderly have less of a need to breathe well and sleep well.

[ozij]

Have heard negatives about cpap if over 80, comments

Search for reliable sources. "Have heard" is about as unreliable as you can get.

[chunkyfrog]

Like "Heard it on Twitter" . . .

[zonker]

Have heard negatives about cpap if over 80, comments

welcome to the zoo!

i take it you've been diagnosed with sleep apnea. treatment via cpap is the most effective way of alleviating the symptoms. cpap stands for Continuous Positive Airway Pressure. simply put, the machine helps hold your airway open, thus allow you to breath better while you sleep.

i myself am not over 80. but i have never heard of any octogenarian having any negative reaction to cpap treatment.

what have you heard.

[lazarus]

There are well-meaning studies that bring up the question from time to time, but none that actually compare outcomes for patients that age who use PAP all night every night, though, as it should be used. The factor that matters to me is are they being educated and assisted so that they can use PAP the way they should. If not, the study is meaningless as far as I am concerned as far as reaching meaningful conclusions on the actual benefits of actual PAP use in the population.

A fairly recent example of the kind of studies people "hear about":

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 572100558X

[Dog Slobber]

Have heard negatives about cpap if over 80, comments

Statements like this are meaningless.

Where did you hear it from, your doctor, your brother-in-law, your cleaning service, a peer reviewed study, Facebook?

I've heard the earth was flat.

[Julie]

Isn't it? Huh!

[lazarus]

Isn't it? Huh!

Technically it IS flat, since it's 70% uncarbonated water.

That's according to a meme I recently read.

The only real question is what percentage of that 70% is actually suitable for use in cpap humidifier tanks. But here that is considered to be a sticky topic.

[zonker]

Isn't it? Huh!

Technically it IS flat, since it's 70% uncarbonated water.

[Miss Emerita]

To Lazarus's point, the study he linked notes this:

Average use of CPAP was 4.3 hours/night (53% with good adherence).

Sheesh.

Also, the (poorly grounded) conclusion of the study wasn't that CPAP was harmful for people over 80 but that it wasn't helpful.

What would have been more interesting is a comparison between the usage rates of the over-80 people and the 70-80 people, or better still, a comparison in both groups between the high-usage people and the low-usage people.

[zonker]

Also, the (poorly grounded) conclusion of the study wasn't that CPAP was harmful for people over 80 but that it wasn't helpful.

and sheesh to this as well. sounds like they are going out of their way to paint a negative, here.

[lazarus]

. . . out of their way to paint a negative . . .

Maybe.

But from the perspective of a practitioner playing the evidence-based-odds game in Rx decisions, it matters not to him or her the reason--whether lack of compliance or lack of efficacy. They are only concerned with spending the money where it will do the most good. I understand that perspective.

As patients, though, we are not in the odds/money game. We are about what is best for the individual patient and providing help to fellow humans despite what other humans their (or our) age are willing and able to do.

It's all about context and perspective when it comes to our goal of making our patient-support efforts as well-rounded as possible instead of falling flat.

(That last line was just to make Mr. Zonker shake his head.)

The elderly often need greater assistance to make ANY medical therapy usable and useful for them. We don't need studies to understand that obvious fact with something as involved as PAP therapy, in my opinion.

The studies are designed to help docs make decisions, not patients.