Treatment compliance in patients lost to follow-up after polysomnography.
OBJECTIVE
Studies on positive airway pressure (PAP) compliance typically focus only on patients who returned for follow-up. In this study, we examined patients who failed to follow-up after their initial polysomnogram (PSG) and PAP titration to determine their treatment status in terms of PAP usage.


METHODS
On retrospective chart review, we identified 57 patients who, based on PSG findings and symptoms, required the use of PAP but failed to follow-up after titration. Twenty-five of these patients were successfully contacted and agreed to an interview.


RESULTS
Only 7 (28%) patients were using PAP on a regular basis. The remaining 18 (72%) patients were noncompliant.


CONCLUSIONS
A significant proportion (24%) of OSA patients who required treatment with PAP were lost to follow-up after polysomnography. This group of patients has previously been ignored in the literature. We showed in this study that majority (72%) of these patients were not being treated adequately for OSA.
Lin
Ho-Sheng
HS
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Wayne State University School of Medicine, and Department of Surgery, John D. Dingell VA Medical Center, Detroit, MI 48201, USA. hlin@med.wayne.edu
Zuliani
Giancarlo
G
Amjad
Esmael H
EH
Prasad
Abhishek S
AS
Badr
M Safwan
MS
Pan
Chuan-Ju G
CJ
Rowley
James A
JA
D001294:Attitude to Health; D045422:Continuous Positive Airway Pressure; D006801:Humans; D010349:Patient Compliance; D010352:Patient Dropouts; D010353:Patient Education as Topic; D017286:Polysomnography; D011175:Positive-Pressure Respiration; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy*