Promoting Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) Adherence

The proposed research will evaluate new approaches to improving the ability of patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), a breathing disorder during sleep, to use continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), a medical device worn during sleep to treat OSA. 120 patients with newly diagnosed OSA who are being initiated on CPAP treatment will be assigned to one of 3 groups: usual care, usual care with web-based access to daily CPAP adherence, and usual care with web-based access to daily CPAP adherence and a financial incentive to use CPAP at least 4 hours/day in the first week of treatment. Measures of CPAP use, daytime sleepiness, and quality of life will evaluate whether patients provided web-based access to their daily CPAP adherence with and without financial incentive will have greater objectively measured average daily hours of CPAP use and greater improvement in functional outcomes following 3 months of treatment compared to patients receiving usual care. The results will test the hypothesis that these behavioral interventions will improve patient adherence to CPAP during the critically important first week of treatment when many patients are deciding whether or not to use CPAP and that this initial level of adherence will be maintained over the long term despite withdrawal of the financial incentive.