More than half of patients struggling to comply with positive airway pressure therapy will stick with their therapy if shifted to a bilevel device in the first 90 days of treatment, according to a new study.
The “Bilevel Rescue” study, sponsored by sleep therapy equipment and technology maker ResMed compared 1,496 non-compliant patients who switched to bilevel therapy and found that:
- 58.5 percent of patients who switched before day 60 complied with therapy.
- 54.2 percent of patients who switched between days 60 and 90 complied.
- 56.8 percent of patients overall complied with therapy.
ResMed presented the study at the American Academy of Sleep Medicine and the Sleep Research Society SLEEP event, which ran this week in Baltimore, Md.
Sleep apnea patients are usually prescribed a PAP device that provides either continuous (CPAP) or auto-adjusting (APAP) pressure. A bilevel device delivers two distinct pressures, one for inhalation and one for exhalation. Physicians prescribe bilevel for patients who are pressure intolerant or continued showing signs of apnea at higher pressures.
“Finding the right mode of therapy made all the difference to those patients who are struggling with initial adherence to therapy,” said ResMed Chief Medical Officer Carlos M. Nunez, M.D. “This strongly suggests that bilevel devices provide a powerful alternative therapy that physicians and HMEs can utilize to help improve non-compliant patients’ treatment experience and outcomes.”
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The study’s full abstract is available at http://bit.ly/2JixJ7f.