Session Schedule

Find a specific presentation in the session by navigating to the timestamp indicated below.

0:00:00
Introduction

0:02:02
The current status of symptom subtypes – An international perspective
Brendan Keenan (United States)

0:21:23
Are men and women really the same when it comes to OSA symptoms subtypes?
Maria Bonsignore (Italy)

0:39:30
An 'omics approach to predict the excessively sleepy OSA subtype
Yun Li (China)

0:58:18
Translating symptoms subtypes to the clinic – What are the next steps?
Ulysses Magalang (United States)

1:12:00
Question and answer

Summary

It has been over 10 years since the original description of distinct subtypes of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) defined by patient-reported symptoms. Three different groups of patients with OSA were identified using unsupervised cluster analysis in an Icelandic cohort: an excessively sleepy subtype, a disturbed sleep subtype, and a minimally symptomatic subtype. These subtypes were similar in age, gender, body mass index, and apnea-hypopnea index, supporting symptoms as an inherent and unique component of heterogeneity among patients with OSA. There are now numerous studies involving thousands of diverse individuals from clinical and general populations across the world that have shown the generalizability of these symptom-based subtypes. This points to a biological basis for the subtypes, which is currently unknown. Studies also link these symptom subtypes to clinical outcomes, including the risk of cardiovascular disease, and the response to treatments for OSA. Hence, efforts should now also focus on how best to implement this knowledge into clinical practice. This symposium will review the current evidence supporting the generalizability of symptom subtypes and their link to health outcomes, discuss factors that may contribute to their biological basis, and describe the steps required to apply them to clinical practice.