Phenotypes in obstructive sleep apnea: a definition, examples and evolution of approaches

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a complex and heterogeneous disorder and the apnea hypopnea index alone can not capture the diverse spectrum of the condition. Enhanced phenotyping can improve prognostication, patient selection for clinical trials, understanding of mechanisms, and personalized treatments. In OSA, multiple condition characteristics have been termed “phenotypes.” To help classify patients into relevant prognostic and therapeutic categories, an OSA phenotype can be operationally defined as: “A category of patients with OSA distinguished from others by a single or combination of disease features, in relation to clinically meaningful attribu tes (symptoms, response to therapy, health outcomes, quality of life).” We review approaches to clinical phenotyping in OSA, citing examples of increasing analytic complexity.

Source: Sleep Medicine Reviews - October 12, 2016 Category: Sleep Medicine Authors: Andrey Zinchuk, Mark Gentry, John Concato, Klar Yaggi Tags: Clinical Review Source Type: research