C-Pappers United! FANTASTIC

perchance wrote: Catherine AKA Perchance

To sleep...
Perchance to dream...
Aye, there's the rub.

perchance wrote: I have learned more from reading posts in about a half-an hour than I have learned from my referring doctor, two visits to the sleep clinic and my delivery person. Shame on them. And shame on me for not demanding more.

Catherine AKA Perchance

perchance wrote:The long-term C-Pap compliance rate is at 6%.

CPAP compliance remains at alarmingly low rates of 40%-60%. Why? While there are a number of reasons, the biggest one is lack of patient CPAP education and support from sleep lab professionals and HME providers. ...

According to the Edward Grandi, Executive Director of the American Sleep Apnea Association, the patient compliance rate for CPAP is still an alarming 50-60%. That number is comprised of those patients who are diagnosed with sleep apnea and refuse treatment as well as those who try treatment and then abandon that therapy.

Why has the 50-60% failure rate not changed over the last decade? Don't sleep apnea patients realize that untreated OSA can be life threatening? Is CPAP therapy really so difficult? ...

... However, the most important strategy for ensuring compliance with CPAP appears to be proper education of clinicians and adequate follow-up of patients. When these strategies are followed, CPAP compliance rates of >70% can be achieved, even in the primary care setting ..."
John D. Zoidis, MD "Improving Compliance With CPAP"
http://www.rtmagazine.com/issues/articl ... -06_04.asp

... There remain, however, a number of factors that limit compliance with CPAP. In fact, a study performed by Pepin et al6 indicated compliance rates in Europe of 65% to 80%, compared with an even lower effective compliance rate of approximately 46% in the United States. Pepin et al believe that the difference in effective compliance rates between Europe and the United States is due to variations in prescription and technical follow-up care. ...

Megan Rauch, RRT "Making CPAP Work"
http://www.rtmagazine.com/issues/articl ... -06_04.asp

... Various studies report CPAP compliance rates at 29% to 83%. The problem is that the definition of compliance changes from study to study. More recently, we’ve adopted the new Medicare requirement for CPAP compliance, which requires that the patients use CPAP at least 70% of the time over a 30 day period, for at least 4 hours every night. Otherwise, the machine has to be returned.

If you sleep 7 hours every night, it comes to 210 total number of hours per 30 days that you’re sleeping. Seventy percent of 210 hours is 147 hours. If you sleep only 4 hours every night, then this figure drops to 88 hours, which means that you have to use your CPAP machine only 40% of the total time that you’re sleeping to be considered "compliant." ...

...Since CPAP works only if you’re using it, if only 40% of people are still using CPAP regularly 5 years after beginning treatment, then the CPAP success rate is at best 40%. But not all people who use CPAP will benefit, so this figure is likely to be much lower. Many more people are likely to stop using CPAP as the years go by.

There are many patients that are 100% compliant with CPAP, using their machines 100% of the time they are sleeping, with no leaks and a low AHI, and still feel no better. Sometimes they can even feel worse than when they don’t use CPAP. ...