Continuous positive airway pressure usage before and after issue of an urgent product defect correction notice following a global Philips recall

Abstract Background Following the global recall of three to four million Philips continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) devices in 2021 due to emissions of harmful products, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) issued guidance recommending continuing usage, stating discontinuing treatment could be immediately harmful. At the time of the recall, Philips devices were exclusively utilised in the subsidised CPAP programme at Austin Health. Aim This study aims to evaluate the mean nightly usage of affected Philips CPAP devices before and after the TGA notice. ( Hypothesis : Our hypothesis is that mean nightly usage of affected Philips CPAP devices decreased after the TGA notice.) Methods Automatically uploaded nightly CPAP usage data from a single centre 6 months prior to the TGA notice was compared with the data 6 months after using a paired t ‐test analysis. Results There were 629 Philips pumps issued in the period before the TGA notice. Usage data were available from 368 devices. Of these, 30 devices had no usage data after the notice. The average Apnoea‐Hypopnea Index was 47.7 (±25.7). Mean usage over the 6 months prior to the notice decreased by 1.33 h (±2.14) from 5.56 (±2.45) h/night to 4.23 (±3.08) with a 95% confidence interval (CI) (1.11, 1.55), P < 0.001. There was a large effect size (Cohen's d = 2.14). Conclusion The TGA notice was associated with decreased mean nightly CPAP usage. Possibly due to concerns regarding inhalation of toxic compounds or coincidental reasons. Decreased use has implications for participant health, with function normalisation predicted with increased duration of use.