Oropharyngeal exercises significantly reduce OSAS severity and symptoms and represent a promising treatment for moderate OSAS. Clinical trial registered with www.clinicaltrials.gov (NCT 00660777).

Rationale: A low respiratory arousal threshold (ArTH) is one of several traits involved in obstructive sleep apnea pathogenesis and may be a therapeutic target; however, there is no simple way to identify patients without invasive measurements.Objectives: To determine the physiologic determinates of the ArTH and develop a clinical tool that can identify patients with low ArTH.Methods: Anthropometric data were collected in 146 participants who underwent overnight polysomnography with an epiglottic catheter to measure the ArTH (nadir epiglottic pressure before arousal). The ArTH was measured from up to 20 non-REM and REM respiratory events selected randomly. Multiple linear regression was used to determine the independent predictors of the ArTH. Logistic regression was used to develop a clinical scoring system.Measurements and Main Results: Nadir oxygen saturation as measured by pulse oximetry, apnea-hypopnea index, and the fraction of events that were hypopneas (F hypopneas ) were independent predictors of the ArTH (r 2 = 0.59; P , 0.001). Using this information, we used receiver operating characteristic analysis and logistic regression to develop a clinical score to predict a low ArTH, which allocated a score of 1 to each criterion that was satisfied: (apnea-hypopnea index, ,30 events per hour) 1 (nadir oxygen saturation as measured by pulse oximetry .82.5%) 1 (F hypopneas .58.3%). A score of 2 or above correctly predicted a low arousal threshold in 84.1% of participants with a sensitivity of 80.4% and a specificity of 88.0%, a finding that was confirmed using leaveone-out cross-validation analysis.Conclusions: Our results demonstrate that individuals with a low ArTH can be identified from standard, clinically available variables. This finding could facilitate larger interventional studies targeting the ArTH.Keywords: sleep apnea; respiratory-induced arousals; arousal threshold; phenotype traits; lung Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common disease with major neurocognitive and cardiovascular sequelae (1-3). Despite its high prevalence and well-recognized consequences, treatment of OSA remains unsatisfactory because of poor adherence (e.g., continuous positive airway pressure) and variable efficacy of existing therapies (e.g., surgery, oral appliances) (4), creating a need for further research into underlying mechanisms to identify new therapeutic targets.

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Pharyngeal critical closing pressure is associated with obesity and hyoid position. Tongue dimensions, pharyngeal length, and the mandibular plane to hyoid distance are associated with obesity variables. These findings provide novel insight into the potential factors mediating upper airway collapse in obstructive sleep apnea.

Inspiratory flow shape is influenced by the pharyngeal structure causing collapse. Flow shape analysis may be used as a noninvasive tool to help determine the pharyngeal structure causing collapse.

Study Objectives: The COVID-19 pandemic has challenged the population of affected areas in multiple dimensions. Adolescents have been especially affected with school closure and home confinement. The impact of the pandemic on sleep habits and quality of sleep and quality of life among adolescents has not been adequately characterized. We hypothesized that the COVID-19 pandemic has induced an evening shift of the daily rhythm among adolescents and adversely affected sleep quality and quality of life of high school students. Methods: Students were questioned about their usual bed and wake-up times and answered the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index Questionnaire, the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, the Horne-Osteberg Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire, and the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire-abbreviated version before and during the pandemic. Results: Ninety-four students (64% females, aged 15 ± 1 years) participated in both phases of the study. Students delayed bed and wake-up times by 1.5 (0.5-2.0) and 2.0 (1.5-2.5) hours, respectively. Chronotype (per the Morningness-Eveningness Questionnaire) shifted toward eveningness during the pandemic. Sleep duration increased and quality of sleep (per the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index) improved only among those students with shorter sleep duration before the pandemic. During the pandemic, the physical and psychological domains of the World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire worsened but the environmental domain improved as compared with the study before the pandemic. Conclusions: High school students have delayed bed and wake-up times and shifted chronotype toward eveningness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The worsening of the physical and psychological World Health Organization Quality of Life Questionnaire domains and improvement in the environmental domain highlight the conflicting experiences that high school students are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

BACKGROUND: OSA pathogenesis is complex and may vary according to ethnicity. The anatomic component predisposing to OSA is the result of the interaction between bony structure and upper airway soft tissues and can be assessed using passive critical closing pressure (Pcrit). We hypothesized that Japanese-Brazilians and whites present different predictors of upper airway collapsibility, suggesting different causal pathways to developing OSA in these two groups.