CPAP therapy: outcomes and patient use.

Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the treatment of choice for most patients with the sleep apnoea/hypopnoea syndrome. CPAP therapy is mainly used to improve daytime function but increasingly some centres are using CPAP to attempt to decrease cardiovascular risk. CPAP can be one of the most eVective forms of therapy in modern medicine. However, not all patients find this therapy ideal and many do not use it as much as physicians would wish. This paper reviews the potential outcomes from CPAP therapy, the data on patient use of CPAP therapy, the factors which limit CPAP use, and whether CPAP use can be improved.