CPAP Community is an independent education site about sleep apnea and CPAP therapy. We publish plain-English guides for people who have just been diagnosed, people struggling to stay on therapy, and the partners and families trying to help. We sell no CPAP equipment, we take no manufacturer sponsorship, and we are not a clinic.
Our mission
Most people meet CPAP therapy at a bad moment: tired, newly diagnosed, handed a device and a leaflet. The information that follows is usually either a clinical document written for clinicians or a product page written to sell you something. We try to sit in between — accurate enough to be trusted, plain enough to read at 11pm.
Who writes these guides
Our guides are researched and written by the CPAP Community editorial team. We are writers and researchers, not clinicians, and we say so on every guide. Nothing we publish is medical advice, and none of it replaces the judgement of your own sleep clinician — see our medical disclaimer for the full statement.
How we source what we publish
Every clinical claim on this site is traced back to a primary source and cited in the text, so you can check it rather than take our word for it. The sources we lean on most are:
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) — what CPAP is and does, benefits, side effects, and the treatment alternatives.
- U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) — device regulation, cleaning guidance and recalls, including the Philips Respironics foam recall.
- Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) — the coverage criteria and adherence rules most US insurers follow.
- American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) — the clinical practice guideline for PAP therapy in adults.
- NIH / NCBI StatPearls — peer-reviewed reference entries on obstructive sleep apnea and continuous positive airway pressure.
Our editorial independence
- We sell nothing. There is no shop on this site and no CPAP equipment behind any link here.
- No sponsored placement. Manufacturers and retailers cannot pay to appear in, or be removed from, our guides.
- Products named are examples, not endorsements. The device and pressure that suit you are a clinical decision on your prescription.
- We date our reviews. Each guide carries the month its content was last reviewed by the editorial team.
Corrections
If you find something on this site that is out of date, unclear, or simply wrong, tell us and we will fix it and note the change. Contact the editorial team.
Where to start
- What does CPAP stand for? — the plainest starting point.
- What does a CPAP machine do? — how the therapy actually works.
- Types of CPAP machines — CPAP vs APAP vs BiPAP.
- Types of CPAP masks — choosing by sleep position and breathing style.
- Getting a CPAP prescription — what the rules actually require.
- All CPAP guides.