Continuous positive airway pressure adherence declines with age in elderly obstructive sleep apnoea patients.

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is an important public health problem with an estimated prevalence of 5–15% in the general population. This increases with age, peaking at 20–25% in individuals aged >65 years. This high prevalence of OSA in the elderly will presumably continue to grow as a consequence of the increasing longevity of the general population [1]. It is therefore not surprising that there is a steady increase in the percentage of patients >65 years of age referred to sleep units for suspicion of OSA and subsequently receiving continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy. One Spanish study that analysed 51 000 sleep studies from 16 sleep units revealed that one in four of these studies was performed in individuals aged ≥65 years, and that 69% of these were eventually treated with CPAP [2]. Despite this high prevalence, there is little information about long-term CPAP adherence in this population, especially in the very elderly (aged >80 years). We thus aimed to analyse the relationship between age at diagnosis and long-term CPAP adherence, in a large cohort of OSA patients aged ≥65 years who had been prescribed CPAP treatment.