Does remote monitoring change OSA management and CPAP adherence?

It is increasingly recognized that the high prevalence of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA), and its associated cardio-metabolic morbidities make OSA a burden for society. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), the gold standard treatment, needs to be used for more than 4 h/night to be effective, but suffers from relatively poor adherence. Furthermore, CPAP is likely to be more effective if combined with lifestyle changes. Thus, the remote telemonitoring (TM) of OSA patients in terms of CPAP use, signalling of device problems, following disease progression, detection of acute events and monitoring of daily physical activity is an attractive option. In the present review, we aim to summarize the recent scientific data on remote TM of OSA patients, and whether it meets expectations. We also look at how patient education and follow-up via telemedicine is used to improve adherence and we discuss the influence of the profile of the healthcare provider. Then, we consider how TM might be extended to encompass the patient's cardio-metabolic health in general. Lastly, we explore how TM and the deluge of data it potentially generates could be combined with electronic health records in providing personalized care and multi-disease management to OSA patients.