Telemonitoring in continuous positive airway pressure-treated patients improves delay to first intervention and early compliance: a randomized trial.

OBJECTIVE: Telemonitoring (TM) has been used in continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP)-treated patients to improve compliance, but results have been inconsistent. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of TM on the delay to the first technical intervention after CPAP initiation. The impact of TM on mean compliance during the first 3 months of treatment was measured as a secondary outcome. METHODS: Patients diagnosed with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea syndrome were prospectively included and randomized to receive usual care (UC) or TM. In both arms, an educational session was scheduled 1 month after CPAP initiation, and medical visits were planned after 1.5 and 3 months. In the TM arm, we added a universal TM unit (T4P) to the CPAP device. RESULTS: Delay to first intervention was significantly shorter in the TM group (29 ± 25 vs 47 ± 30 days, p = 0.02). The first intervention in the TM group was motivated by detection of problems by the TM system in 39% of patients. Compliance at 3 months was significantly better in the TM group (5.7 ± 1.6 vs 4.2 ± 1.9 h/night, p = 0.018). CONCLUSION: This is the first randomized study showing that TM reduces delay to first technical intervention in CPAP-treated patients. This early activation of troubleshooting was associated with improved compliance at 3 months. Since CPAP side effects at 1 month have been shown to predict lower 12-month CPAP compliance, TM seems to be an excellent tool for improvement of long-term CPAP acceptance.

A simple rapid method for detection of IL-2 in a physiological medium.

The Con A-activated proliferation of C57BL/6 mice thymus cell suspension is completely blocked by a low concentration of hydrocortisone. This inhibition is reversed by the addition of a 24 h Con A-activated splenic cell supernatant to the thymic cell culture. The restoring activity is completely destroyed by heating. Restoration is not obtained by addition of IL-1-rich supernatant from an LPS-activated peritoneal adherent cell population. The supernatant of a 24 h splenic cell culture activated by Con A in the presence of indomethacin not only restores hydrocortisone-blocked thymocyte reactivity but also enhances thymic cell stimulation. Addition of PGE to the splenic cell culture inhibits the restoring potency of the supernatant. These results are in accord with the proposition that IL-2 is responsible for the restoring phenomenon. These properties have been used to develop a semi-quantitative method for detection of IL-2 in a physiological medium.