Arguably, this board is a skewed population in many respects
Stands to reason, yes.
however, the overriding fact that not even 50% of diagnosed apnea patients find CPAP therapy tolerable strongly suggests that the population here may not be nearly as skewed
low tolerance for CPAP
strongly suggests that compliance is tough. Difficulty with compliance does not
strongly suggest that our own board's population, or number or quality of posts, is skewed in any predictable direction.
Almost every day, people literally stumble in here with the most basic of questions and needs, few of which reflect positively on the medical community.
Almost every day, far more people than the few who stumble in here are unaccounted for.
A board like this would certainly be more likely to draw the people that are having problems, unless you would posit that a disproportionately large number of satisfied patients would come here so that they may speak passionately of their satisfaction with their care, and continue to seek answers as to how to they managed to do it.
Yet, if you accept the premise that folks here are more capable than the general population
That would be an interesting premise, yes. Is it yours?
you also need to accept the fact that, being more capable, many of these same folks, arguably 50% of them, would have found a way to become compliant with their therapy even without benefit of this forum.
My opinon is that
we need to accept the fact that "facts" come when verifiable evidence is presented, not from premises and the opinions that accompany them no matter how strongly stated.
Hence, the conclusion
. . . more specifically, your conclusion
that this group represents the general population, at least in terms of what their compliance would have been without this forum
Interesting speculation. You could be right. Or wrong. Depends on whether your multiple premises are accepted, and quite a lot more. Conjecture and Conclusion sound so similar, but are worlds apart.
At least that's my observation, having watched the comings and goings here with great interest for over a year now.
Life is funny like that. The more that you look for what you seek, the more frequently that you will find it.
Regards,
Bill (. . . making apologies to no one for having an opinion on the matter)
Doesn't sound like you'd have any reason to suspect that you would owe an apology for having an opinon. My "opinion" is that it is curious that you feel the need to alert us about that . . .
