10/27/06
Patient education and mask acclimatization are shown to increase compliance among people who participate in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, says a new study presented at CHEST 2006, the annual scientific assembly of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Researchers from Yale University and Bridgeport Hospital divided 88 CPAP patients into two groups; those who received education and acclimatization prestudy (intervention group) and those who received traditional education only, or poststudy (control group). All patients received humidification and followed-up at one, three, and six months. Compliance data downloaded from the CPAP machine showed only eight percent of patients failed to use CPAP, compared with 31% of controls.
Researchers concluded that there was more compliance, both in hours per night and nights per week used, in the intervention group.
