Participant Selection
Patients established on NIV for >3months will be recruited in this trial. The sample size
calculation of n=32 patients is based on previous in-house data (Ishak A et al,
Respirology 2019 in press) to detect a difference in the treatment arms with a Power of
>80% and an alpha of 5% using the improvement adherence as an outcome parameter.
Criteria and procedures for subject withdrawal or discontinuation.
Sample size estimation assumed 15-20% of patients would not provide end of study
information that could be evaluated. If this rate is observed, data for some patients
will be only partially observed. For patients who withdraw or drop out before the end of
the study, the "no change assumption" will be used to impute the missing subsequent
values. This may introduce a bias if the main reason for drop-out was deterioration. To
examine this possibility, sensitivity analysis will be performed to assess the primary
efficacy outcome using different imputation methods including "best-case scenario" and
"worst- case scenario" possible scores for the missing data. A second per protocol
analysis, including only those subjects with complete follow-up data will also be
performed.
Subject Enrolment
Patients on NIV will be recruited from the Lane Fox Unit at Guy's & St Thomas' NHS
Foundation Trust where they are assessed in clinics. The Lane Fox Unit runs daily
outpatient clinics at the St Thomas' site. Currently, the Lane Fox Unit cares for >2,000
patients on home non-invasive ventilation.
The direct care team will approach patients after consultation with the Consultant and
hand out a Patient Information Sheet to discuss the study with potential participants.
Informed written consent will be taken after sufficient time to allow for information and
questioning. Patients will then be offered a clinic date to come to hospital. If the
patient fulfills all inclusion and no exclusion criteria, follow up will be booked at 6-
weeks (phone call) and at 12-weeks (clinic appointment) following randomisation.
Procedures Informed Consent
A member of the direct clinical care team (Good Clinical Practice, GCP-trained) will take
informed consent once the patients have had the opportunity to read and discuss the
Patient Information Sheet with sufficient time. It will be clearly stated that the
participant is free to withdraw from the study at any time without this affecting any
future care and with no obligation to give the reason for withdrawal.
Following sufficient time and the opportunity to question the (Co-)investigator or other
independent parties to decide whether they will participate in the study written informed
consent will then be obtained. A copy of the signed informed consent will be given to the
participants. The original signed form will be kept at the study site and a copy will be
inserted in the medical notes.
Screening and Eligibility Assessment
Patients with sleep-disordered breathing and the need for non-invasive ventilation will
be recruited from the Lane Fox Unit where they are assessed in the NIV clinics. The Lane
Fox Unit runs daily outpatient clinics at the St Thomas' site. Currently, the Lane Fox
Unit cares for >2,000 patients on home non-invasive ventilation.
The direct care team will approach patients after consultation with the Consultant and
hand out a Patient Information Sheet to discuss the study with them. Informed written
consent will be taken after sufficient time to allow for information and questioning.
Patients will then be offered a date to come to hospital within four weeks for the
baseline. If the patient fulfills all inclusion and no exclusion criteria, follow up will
be booked at 6-weeks (phone call) and at 12-weeks (clinic appointment) following
randomisation.
Baseline Assessments
The initial assessment will include an outpatient clinic appointment. Patients will be
assessed using the following parameters:
Demographics i. Age ii. Gender iii. Height, Weight, Body-Mass-Index (BMI) iv. Neck
circumference v. Waist, Hip, W:H ratio vi. Mallampati and Friedman Score vii. Basic
lung function (spirometry: FEV1, FVC) viii. Blood pressure and heart rate ix.
Medication use x. GP appointments/A&E contacts/hospitalisations (previous 3months)
Upper Airway i. Mallampati and Friedman score
Blood tests i. Arterial or earlobe blood gas analysis (including pH, pO2, pCO2,
HCO3-)
Previous sleep study parameters, as measured when NIV was set up i. AHI/4%ODI ii.
average SpO2 (%) iii. Total recording time iv. Diagnosis
Symptom and Quality of Life scores i. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) ii. Stanford
Sleepiness Scale (SSS) iii. European Quality of Life tool (EQ-5D) iv. Hospital
Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) v. Severe Respiratory Insufficiency
questionnaire (SRI)
NIV adherence i. total hours used ii. average usage per night (hours) iii. total
nights used
Randomisation
Randomisation and Home Treatment Following the baseline assessment, if eligible, patients
will be randomized into active treatment (remote monitoring of NIV) or usual care (NIV).
The active treatment will be remote monitoring at night while using NIV while the usual
care group will receive ongoing NIV therapy without remote monitoring.
Randomisation will involve assigning a unique patient number in sequential, ascending
chronological order (matched cases). This number will be a two-digit number prefixed by
"R" (e.g. R01, R02 etc) and will be used to identify the treatment the patient was
randomised to. Treatment assignment will be determined according to a computer generated
randomisation list.
Subsequent assessments
Weekly Review of Online Data In the intervention group, the investigators will review the
usage data weekly and, if it is found that the average usage for 3 subsequent nights is
below 4 hours/night and/or the leak is >50L/min then the patient will be called to
discuss any problems.
6-Week Telephone Contacts
All patients will receive a 6-week phone call to encourage NIV usage and discuss problems
with the treatment. Patients will be asked about comfort and adverse events. The
following parameters will be assessed:
i. Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) ii. Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) iii. subjective NIV
usage (hours)
At this stage, the patients will be educated on the device/NIV again and encouraged to
continue with the usage.
Follow up at 12-weeks
At 12-week follow up the patients will be invited to attend outpatient clinics at the
Lane Fox Unit. The assessment will repeat the following measurements (for more details
see above, 7.4.3):
i) Demographics ii) Upper Airway iii) Blood tests iv) Symptom and Quality of Life scores
v) NIV usage
Patients will be given a debriefing by the study team and individual study reports can be
requested at this stage, they will be provided once the entire analysis has been
completed.
Definition of End of Trial
The trial finishes with the 12-week follow up assessment. The patients will then be
referred back to standard care to be followed up in the outpatient setting at the Lane
Fox Unit.