Short summary

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly common condition affecting > 300.000 people in Denmark. Untreated OSA is associated with an increased risk of morbidity, mortality, traffic accidents and decreased quality of life. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the standard treatment.

In this PhD project, we will improve the treatment of OSA-patients.

Rationale

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is an increasingly common condition affecting approximately 100,000 diagnosed patients in Denmark besides a significant number (>200.000) of undiagnosed patients. Untreated OSA is associated with an increased risk of morbidity, mortality, traffic accidents, decreased quality of life and significant socioeconomic consequences. Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy is the standard treatment for OSA patients.

In this PhD project, we will improve the treatment of OSA-patients, by performing three studies: 1) A descriptive cohort study investigating patterns of CPAP compliance to predict which patients will achieve low or no compliance. 2) A cohort study analyzing the benefits of annual consultations compared to follow-up contacts at patients' request for OSA patients with good compliance. 3) A latent profile analysis exploring which phenotypes OSA patients can be divided into, based on demographic, socioeconomic and clinical characteristics and evaluate which phenotypes are most compliant to CPAP. Data will be collected retrospectively from two Danish sleep clinics and from Danish Registries.

With the results of this project we will know what the optimal CPAP follow-up procedure is, are able to identify patients who are not being adequately treated for their OSA disease, and predict patients who will not benefit from CPAP.

Description of the cohort

The population consists of patients from the National Patient Register who are > 17 years old at the time they are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in the period from January 1, 2015, to December 31, 2022. It is expected that there are approximately 100,000 patients in the population.

Data and biological material

We will use compliance data extracted from AirView (telemonitoring), data obtained from local journals/the National Patient Registry on the patients' visits and contacts to the sleep clinics and the patients' socioeconomic status (income and education registers) and comorbidities (as identified using ATC codes as a proxy for diagnosed diseases, including those diagnosed by general practitioners).

Collaborating researchers and departments

Department of Otorhinolaryngology and Maxillofacial Surgery, Zealand University Hospital

• MD and Professor Preben Homøe

Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, and Audiology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen

• MD and PhD Eva Kirkegaard Kiær

Danish Center for Sleep Medicine, Department of Clinical Neurophysiology, Rigshospitalet, University of Copenhagen

• MD and Professor Poul Jørgen Jennum