Bridging the gap: Are OSA patients ready for Telemedicine? An Italian perspective

Different telemedicine approaches for managing sleep disorders have been extensively researched worldwide, yet data on patients' individual willingness to adopt these protocols remain limited. This study aims to fill this gap, focusing specifically on the Italian population. A 19-item anonymous questionnaire was administered to 255 consecutive obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients. Our findings indicate a substantial willingness to use telemedicine: 56.5% were unreservedly in favour of remote follow-up and 67.4% preferred comprehensive telemonitoring to PAP-only monitoring, although only 48.6% were familiar with the term "telemedicine". Attitudes towards remote consultations were more nuanced: 51.8% were unreservedly in favour, but within a combined model with telemonitoring only 40.6% would also accept them, and 45.7% considered in-person consultations irreplaceable. The need for assistance increased with age and, in multinomial logistic regression, older age was the main determinant of both refusal and perceived obstacles (odds ratios per age class 2.1-2.9), whereas educational level was not significantly associated with the response pattern after adjustment. Privacy concerns were frequent: 38.0% reported doubts or concerns, including 14.9% who were unwilling to transmit their data electronically, a response that, in exploratory analyses, was more frequent among more educated patients. Most patients (90.8%) believed that telemedicine services should be provided by the Public Health Service. In conclusion, telemedicine may be well received by Italian patients with OSA as a complement to, rather than a replacement of, in-person care; its implementation should consider public funding, tailored digital support for older patients, and robust data governance and privacy safeguards.