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.
Keywords
sleep - lung - hypoxemia - arousal
