Low patient compliance to CPAP therapy as a new challenge in the management of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome: social, demographic characteristics and the quality of life

Abstract

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is one of the most common sleep disorders. According to various studies, the prevalence of OSAS varies between 2-4% of men and 1-2% of women in the general population, with more than 90% of cases among men and 80% of women being undiagnosed. The "gold standard" for the treatment of OSAS is respiratory therapy using CPAP. At the same time, the results of patients' compliance to CPAP are controversial. Thus, the inability to use this method was noted by 45 to 80% of patients, therefore it is important to study this group of patients, who showed low compliance with CPAP. Aim: to determine the social and demographic characteristics of the group of patients with OSAS and low compliance with CPAP therapy, as well as the impact of the disease on the quality of life of patients. Materials and methods: The study included 80 patients with second stage OSAS who had previously demonstrated low compliance with CPAP. Overall demographic indicators were assessed, and patients were interviewed to assess their quality of life using The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument. Statist ical criteria included methods of descriptive statistics (mean, mode, median, minimum and maximum value, variance). In case of normal data distribution methods of parametric statistics were used, and in case of uneven distribution – non-parametric criteria. Results: The gender distribution in the group showed 67.5% of men and 32.5% of women. Average age was 39.35 (±9.49) years and 39.56 (±11.89) years, respectively. The average value of the biomass index in men was 28.3 (±2.9), in women – 28.1 (±3.9). Only three people in the group reached retirement age. The results of the survey of the quality of life showed a significant reduction in the level of "Relationships with others", "Social isolation", "Sleep" and "Anxiety and depression" (p <0.05). Conclusions: The results of the study showed that the demographic characteristics of the group of patients with OSAS with low compliance to CPAP do not differ from the general patterns. In addition, a questionnaire using The Assessment of Quality of Life (AQoL) instrument showed a significant decrease in the quality of life of patients due to worsening of social isolation and reduced psychological wellbeing.