About the Speaker: Allan I. Pack, MBChB, PhD, John Miclot Professor of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine
Join the Session: Attend "Different Clinical Subtypes" within the OSA sessions during the December 3-5, 2020 program
From Dr. Pack
"Obstructive sleep apnea is a heterogeneous disorder. There are distinct clinical subtypes. The subtypes are: a) Insomnia with major complaints of difficulty sleeping; b) Relatively asymptomatic; c) Excessively sleepy. These subtypes have been identified in multiple clinical and population based cohorts. Individuals in the different sub types get symptomatic benefits from therapy.
Importantly, it is only the excessively sleepy subtype that has an increased risk of cardiovascular events. This potentially explains why recent randomized trials assessing benefits in terms of reduced CV events with CPAP were negative. Excessively sleepy subjects were excluded from these trials. Moving forward, we need to assess benefit of CPAP in terms of reduced CV events in studies that include excessively sleepy individuals. This can be accomplished using observational studies using propensity score matching approach. This gives evidence similar to what can be achieved with RCTs if studies are well designed."
View this session and the entire scientific program in our World Sleep Virtual Meeting Preliminary Program.