- Short for "automatic positive airway pressure"
- Device used in the treatment of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
- Automatically adjusts, on a breath-by-breath basis, to deliver the minimum pressure needed to keep the upper airway open during sleep. This allows the device provide you with your ideal pressure over the entire night
- Tend to be more advanced and contain more features than CPAP devices
- May also be known as:
- Auto-adjusting CPAP
- Auto-titrating CPAP
- Self-adjusting CPAP
- Auto PAP
- Automatic CPAP
- Auto
AutoSet™ technology
View the the AutoSet Advantage™ multimedia presentation (SWF 4.5MB)
Third-party clinical trials have found that ResMed's AutoSet™ autotitration devices prevent more apneas and hypopneas and operate at lower average pressures than fixed pressure devices. Lower pressure means greater comfort for you.
Most devices only adjust pressure after an event (an apnea, hypopnea, or snore) has occurred, but AutoSet devices actually prevent most events. AutoSet devices respond preemptively to apneas and hypopneas by monitoring the user's inspiratory flow-time curve. Changes in this curve indicate the likely occurrence of an apnea, hypopnea or snore.
Some apneas will occur without any precursor, and in these situations, the AutoSet device responds to the severity of the apnea, not providing too much additional pressure and not providing too little, as opposed todevices with arbitrary incremental increases.
Read more about our AutoSet devices
Are all APAP devices the same?
No. Although these machines use complex algorithms, each manufacturer's device uses a different — usually patented — algorithm that responds to different signs of snoring, flow limitation, hypopneas and apneas.
The algorithm largely determines the quality and comfort of treatment, so if you are prescribed an autotitration system, please check with the manufacturer to see that the device has been clinically validated to provide the treatment it promises.