Patients who performed sleep testing in their home with portable monitors showed similar improvements in daytime function after 3 months of treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as compared to patients who underwent overnight testing in a sleep center, according to new research.
Furthermore, patient adherence to CPAP over the first 3 months of treatment was similar in patients with OSA who received home versus in-lab testing, according to the findings presented at the ATS 2010 International Conference in New Orleans.
The researchers conducted a two-site study in which they randomized nearly 300 patients to undergo either standard in-laboratory sleep testing or at-home testing. Of the 223 patients who started CPAP treatment after evaluation, 185 completed 3 months of follow-up.
They found that patients who had undergone at-home testing showed improvements after 3 months of CPAP treatment similar to improvements in those who had undergone in-lab diagnosis. The CPAP machines used in the study recorded the patient’s use of the treatment. Average hours of daily use over the 3-month period were similar in the two groups.
This study was led by Samuel T. Kuna, MD, chief of the pulmonary, critical care, and sleep section at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center, and conducted in collaboration with Dr Charles Atwood at the VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System and the University of Pittsburgh.
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