Abstract
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is a highly prevalent disease, and there is an increased demand for OSA diagnosis and treatment. However, resources are limited compared with the growing needs for OSA diagnosis and management, and alternative strategies need to be developed to optimise the OSA clinical pathway. In this review, we propose a management strategy for OSA, and in general for sleep-disordered breathing, to be implemented from diagnosis to follow-up. For this purpose, the best current options seem to be: 1) networking at different levels of care, from primary physicians to specialised sleep laboratories; and 2) use of telemedicine. Telemedicine can contribute to the improved cost-effectiveness of OSA management during both the diagnostic and therapeutic phases. However, although the technology is already in place and different commercial platforms are in use, it is still unclear how to use telemedicine effectively in the sleep field. Application of telemedicine for titration of positive airway pressure treatment, follow-up to improve compliance to treatment through early identification and solution of problems, and teleconsultation all appear to be promising areas for improved OSA management.
Abstract
Telemedicine could improve the management of sleep apnoea and other breathing disorders during sleep. http://bit.ly/2XPoPW1
Footnotes
Provenance: Commissioned article, peer reviewed
Conflict of interest: M. Suarez-Giron has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: M.R. Bonsignore has nothing to disclose.
Conflict of interest: J.M. Montserrat has nothing to disclose.
Support statement: Funding was received from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (PI14/00416 and PI17/01068). Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Crossref Funder Registry.
- Received May 25, 2019.
- Accepted July 16, 2019.
- Copyright ©ERS 2019.
This article is open access and distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Licence 4.0.