Genetic Markers in Sleep Disorders

Dear Colleagues,

Sleep is a fundamental physiological process with important restorative functions that are essential for optimal day-time functioning. Insufficient or poor-quality sleep has been associated with neurocognitive impairments, end-organ dysfunction, and chronic health conditions. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is characterized by episodic partial or complete upper airway obstruction during sleep in association with loud snoring, altered gas exchange, and sleep fragmentation. OSA is associated with increased risk for morbidity and mortality affecting cardiovascular, metabolic, and neurocognitive systems, and more recently with non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and cancer-related deaths, in which both genetic and environmental factors may be involved. Obesity is the strongest risk factor for OSA and is rooted in both environmental and genetic factors, varying significantly according to race. The definitive diagnosis of OSA currently requires an overnight polysomnographic evaluation in a sleep laboratory, and is, therefore, an onerous and labor-intensive procedure, such that delays in the timely diagnosis and treatment are frequent occurrences. Although much has been learned about the pathophysiology and consequences of adult and pediatric OSA in the last 40 years, the mechanisms and specific genes associated with such processes remain poorly defined. A challenge in the development of non-invasive diagnostic assays in body fluids is the ability to identify clinically relevant biomarkers. The proposal of this Special Issue is to understand and to identify a genetic marker that may contribute to sleep disorders in both adults and children and is gained either from singular or multiple markers. The information obtained by such a non a priori approach offers an extraordinary opportunity to fully characterize biological processes in terms of pathophysiology and health outcomes.

You may choose our Joint Special Issue in Clocks & Sleep.

Prof. Dr. Abdelnaby Khalyfa
Guest Editor

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