COVID-19-related changes in outpatient CPAP setup pathways for OSA are linked with decreased 30-day CPAP usage
Turnbull CD., Allen M., Appleby J., Brown R., Bryan N., Cooper A., Cooper BG., Gillooly C., Davidson J., Farley H., Gaspar A., Gibbons G., Gray B., Hill G., Kendrick A., Marsh B., McMillan A., Page J., Pepperell JCT., Quinnell T., Rogers C., Sexton J., Sheperd N., Steier J., Stockley J., Stradling J., Woroszyl A., West S., Wright S., Nickol A.
The COVID-19 pandemic changed continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) setup pathways. We evaluated patients commenced on CPAP in 2019 (prepandemic) and 2020 (post-first UK wave). Face-to-face (F2F) setup numbers, with CPAP turned on, decreased from 613 patients (98.9%) in 2019, to 6 (1.1%) in 2020. In 2020, setups were F2F without CPAP turned on (403 (71.1%)), or remote (158 (27.9%)). Prepandemic median CPAP usage at first follow-up was 5.4 (2.7–6.9) hours/night and fell by 0.9 hours/night (95% CI 0.5 to 1.2, p<0.0001) in 2020. We found clinically relevant reductions in CPAP usage with pathway changes post-COVID-19.