Open Access
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 · Sleep Sci 2025; 18(01): e109-e113
DOI: 10.1055/s-0044-1788287
Review Article

Obstructive Sleep Apnea Endophenotypes

Authors

  • Janna Rae Raphelson

    School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
  • Ana Lucia Fuentes

    School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
  • Breanna Holloway

    School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States
  • Atul Malhotra

    School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, CA, United States

Funding Source The authors declare that they have received funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, the National Institutes of Health, and the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disorder with major neurocognitive and cardiometabolic consequences. It is now recognized as a heterogeneous disease with multiple different underlying mechanisms (endotypes) as well as variable clinical expression of disease (phenotypes). The importance of this variability is emphasized since one variable in isolation typically explains only a fraction of the variance in OSA occurrence. This review provides an update of what is known regarding OSA heterogeneity. The importance of OSA endotypes is discussed in the context of how mechanism might affect disease management and/or design of subsequent randomized trials. Further research is recommended to provide further validation of OSA endophenotypes and how this information may influence clinical management in the future.



Publication History

Received: 29 November 2023

Accepted: 05 February 2024

Article published online:
09 August 2024

© 2024. Brazilian Sleep Academy. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonDerivative-NonCommercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit. Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)

Thieme Revinter Publicações Ltda.
Rua do Matoso 170, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, CEP 20270-135, Brazil