ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the operation of healthcare systems worldwide reducing hospital based services, and increasing telemedicine solutions for the diagnosis and treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA). Aim(s): to evaluate the opinion of OSA patients concerning their disease during the COVID pandemic,their treatment and follow up. Method(s): A telephone questionnaire based survey was conducted on OSA patients treated with CPAP including basic information (age, gender, marriage, education level, etc.), opinion towards the changes of medical practice during the pandemic, history of OSA, Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), DAR-5 (anger), PHQ-4(depression and anxiety), Heaviness of Smoking Index (HSI) and Loneliness scale (LS). Adherence on CPAP was assessed objectively by telemonitoring. Result(s): 100 OSA patients 54.3+/-12.5 years (72% males) were evaluated presenting with ESS: 4.3+/-2.95, AIS: 3.14+/-3.3, PHQ-4: 2.29+/-1.72, DAR-5: 6.7+/-1.95 and HSI 3.5+/-.1.7. Mean CPAP use was 5.8+/-1.65 with 2.9+/-2.5years OSA history (96% used CPAP the same as before the pandemic). 41% considered themselves as high risk group for severe disease due to COVID because they suffered from OSA, and 25% believed CPAP could be protective from COVID. Patients infected with COVID (31%) did not change their CPAP use. 30% believed they received worse healthcare facilities than before and 16% presented worse sleep quality. Conclusion(s): During the pandemic, OSA patients continued to use their CPAP as before;however they believed that they should have better healthcare facilities. They considered themselves as a high risk group for COVID infection.