With limited comparative data to support the different strategies, there is substantial variation across Europe and the United States in the methods used by clinicians to set up home non-invasive ventilation (NIV) for patients with chronic respiratory failure as a consequence of sleep disordered breathing. Indeed with few data to support the practice, many centres employ full montage polysomnography, which is not only a significant physical burden to the patient but also a financial burden to the healthcare provider in terms of the facilities required, staff training and equipment.
The investigators propose to undertake a randomised controlled trial to compare the clinical effectiveness, in terms of the change in daytime arterial partial pressure of carbon dioxide (PaCO2) at 3 months, of limited respiratory polygraphy and full polysomnography to set up NIV in patients with COPD-OSA overlap. Secondary outcome measures at 3 months will include overnight control of gas exchange, subjective sleep quality, health related quality of life and ventilator adherence. COPD-OSA overlap are a patient group that have a rising prevalence with limited data currently available detailing NIV set up, which wholly supports the rationale of using this increasingly important group as a target population for this trial.
