The use of a CPAP machine is still considered the gold standard when it comes to the treatment of sleep apnea. The problem? The average sleep apnea patient is either completely adverse to its use, declining it altogether, or does not use it optimally.
This is made more difficult by the fact that titration is usually done in a lab setting, slowly increasing the pressure to help a patient acclimate. The good news is that there are now autoadjusting CPAP devices, also known as ACPAP, that take away some of the irritation patients feel about the entire process.
According to Sleep Review Mag, “There were two notable exceptions in which patients utilized ACPAP at home for either 4 to 5 nights or 5 to 7 nights before a fixed pressure was determined. Of interest, these were also the only two studies that found significantly better adherence (not just equivalence) to CPAP therapy at 12 weeks in the patients who started in the ACPAP arm as compared to those in the in-lab titration arm.”
For more information and the complete article, please see Can We Assure Adherence in Patients Titrated by Autoadjusting CPAP at Home?