Does your elderly parent with OSA have the concern that they are reluctant to start treatment for apnea syndrome because they are too old to adhere to continuous CPAP therapy?
Don't worry, there are trials demonstrating that there is only a 4% difference in the rate of failure to continue adherence to CPAP therapy in older patients compared to younger patients, who all use CPAP for almost the same amount of time each day. This suggests that older OSA patients do not have worse CPAP adherence rates than younger OSA patients.
Therefore, advanced age should not be a barrier to initiating CPAP use. Encourage your parents to use CPAP therapy so that a high quality of life can be achieved.
References:
Avellan-Hietanen H, Aalto T, Maasilta P, Ask O, Bachour A. Adherence to sleep apnea CPAP therapy in patients over 70 years of age.Sleep Breath. 2022 Mar;26(1):325-331.DOI: 10.1007/ S11325-021-02398-W. pmid: 34091854; pmcid: pmc8857145.
