Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on PAP adherence and patients’ attitudes in Crete, Greece: the role of telemedicne

Abstract

Background: Management of OSA during the COVID-19 pandemic has changed and telemedicine was used to continue diagnosing and treating these patients. However, there are no studies till now evaluating OSA patients’ attitudes and PAP adherence during the initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic in Greece.

Aims and Objectives: To analyse the impact of the national lockdown in Crete on PAP adherence, patients attitudes regarding COVID-19 pandemic and the potential influence of telemedicine.

Methods: 167 OSA patients under PAP treatment were included with adherence data available in the 12- months prior and in the 3 months after the lockdown. Telemedicine was used for patient’s follow-up. We analysed the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on objective PAP adherence and patients concerns regarding COVID-19 infection and associated complications due to OSA diagnosis.

Results: All patients continued to use their PAP during the COVID-19 outbreak. Comparing data from the pre-COVID-19 period to data post-lockdown we found no significant difference in PAP adherence, measured by hours of use (6.1 vs 5.7, p=0.15); however, the proportion of patients with good compliance (≥6 hours of PAP use/night) increased by 18% (p<0.001). 23% of patients reported concerns about getting COVID-19 due to OSA diagnosis, but only 3% reported decreased sleep duration and 9% were concerned that the presence of OSA would make them more likely to have greater medical complications in case of COVID-19 infection.

Conclusions: Our results suggest that until now COVID-19 pandemic had no impact on PAP adherence or reported sleep duration, pointing out the potential role of digital health in Sleep field.