Telemedicine compared to standard face-to-face care for continuous positive airway pressure treatment: real-world Australian experience

Abstract

Study Objectives: We tested a telemedicine model of care to initiate continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) living in remote Western Australia. Methods: A prospective study comparing telemedicine for CPAP initiation in a remote population versus standard face-to-face CPAP initiation in a metropolitan population. The primary outcome was average nightly CPAP use in the final week of a CPAP trial. Results: A total of 186 participants were allocated to either telemedicine (n = 56) or standard care (n = 130). The average distance from the study center for the telemedicine group was 979 km (±792 km) compared to 19 km (±14 km) for the standard care group. The CPAP trial duration in the standard care group was less than the telemedicine group (37.6 vs 69.9 days, p