Sleep Apnea Overview

Principles

Definition

Sleep apnea is a clinical concept within sleep medicine defined by recurrent episodes of partial or complete airway obstruction or central nervous system failure resulting in cessation or significant reduction of airflow during sleep, the investigation of which involves polysomnography and other physiological monitoring techniques to assess severity, consequences, and guide therapeutic interventions.

Ontological type

Treatment Modalities

Diagnostic Evaluation

Pathophysiology

Key developments

Key Figures

Clinical Framing and CPAP era

J. Allan Hobson [1] was a key figure in sleep research during the CPAP-era consolidation, with affiliations at Harvard University [2] and Boston University [3]. His 1969 manual A manual of standardized terminology, techniques and scoring system for sleep stages of human subjects [4], established the standardized sleep staging framework that enabled objective nocturnal recording and informed clinical decision-making critical to CPAP trials by Hobson [1]. This standardization, driven by Hobson [1], provided a common language for sleep staging that supported objective measurement and guided patient selection and treatment planning during the CPAP era. Thus Hobson [1] helped anchor the era's clinical consolidation of sleep apnea, enabling device innovation, adherence research, and the incorporation of hemodynamic and daytime impairment measures into routine assessment.

Standardization and Outcomes era

Sonia Ancoli-Israel [1] is associated with the University of California, San Francisco [3] and the University of California, San Diego [4] during the Standardization and Outcomes era. Her major contribution in this era was the development of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events: Rules, Terminology and Technical Specifications [6], which standardized scoring rules across centers and enabled scalable, comparable outcome research. Susan Redline [2] has affiliations with Harvard University [5] and the University of California, San Francisco [3] during this era. Her work on Sleep-related breathing disorders in adults: recommendations for syndrome definition and measurement techniques in clinical research (the Report of an American Academy of Sleep Medicine Task Force) [7] helped establish standardized endpoints that underpinned outcome-oriented research and guideline development.

Population Surveillance and Wearables era

Terry Young [1], affiliated with University of Wisconsin–Madison [3] and University of Toronto [4], is a leading figure in sleep-disordered breathing research shaping population surveillance in the 2010-2023 era. His key contributions in this era include the 2013 paper Increased Prevalence of Sleep-Disordered Breathing in Adults [7], which provided large-scale estimates and helped establish the public-health relevance of sleep apnea. James A. McNamara [2], affiliated with University of California, San Francisco [5] and University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign [6], contributed to a growing interdisciplinary view of sleep apnea linking orthodontics and systemic health during this era. His 2019 paper Obstructive sleep apnea and orthodontics: An American Association of Orthodontists White Paper [8] highlighted clinical implications and informed integrated screening and management approaches within population surveillance.