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Medicina
Special Issues
Obstructive Sleep Apnea: New Insights and Future Directions
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Obstructive Sleep Apnea: New Insights and Future Directions

A special issue of Medicina (ISSN 1648-9144). This special issue belongs to the section "Pulmonology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 September 2026 | Viewed by 562

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cheng-Jung Wu

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Guest Editor
Department of Otolaryngology, School of Medicine, College of Medicine, Taipei Medical University, Taipei, Taiwan
Interests: obstructive sleep apnea; sleep surgery; rhinology; artificial intelligence in medicine; pediatric sleep medicine
Dr. Ming-Shao Tsai

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Chiayi Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chiayi, Taiwan
Interests: obstructive sleep apnea (OSA); head & neck cancer; infectious disease
Dr. Wen-Te Liu

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Division of Pulmonary Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Taipei Medical University-Shuang Ho Hospital, New Taipei City 235041, Taiwan
Interests: obstructive sleep apnea; sleep disorders; general pulmonology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Background & History: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a prevalent chronic disorder characterized by repetitive upper airway collapse during sleep. It is increasingly recognized as a major public health concern due to its strong association with cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysregulation, and neurocognitive impairment. While Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) remains the gold standard treatment, long-term adherence is often suboptimal, highlighting the urgent need for alternative and personalized therapeutic strategies.

Aim and Scope: The primary aim of this Special Issue is to explore the shifting paradigm from a "one-size-fits-all" approach to precision medicine in sleep apnea. We seek to highlight how a deeper understanding of OSA pathophysiology—including anatomical and non-anatomical phenotypes—can improve treatment outcomes. This issue will cover the entire spectrum of patient care, from pediatric to adult populations and from diagnostic innovation to long-term management.

Cutting-edge Research: We are particularly interested in cutting-edge developments in both diagnostics and therapeutics. Key topics include the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning in sleep scoring and image analysis, as well as the use of Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy (DISE) for surgical planning. On the therapeutic front, we aim to discuss innovations in sleep surgery (e.g., barbed pharyngoplasty and robotic surgery), upper airway stimulation, and the emerging role of pharmacotherapy (e.g., GLP-1 receptor agonists) for weight management in OSA.

What kind of papers we are soliciting: We invite authors to submit original research articles, comprehensive reviews, and clinical studies. We welcome contributions that address surgical techniques, myofunctional therapy, and epidemiological studies that offer new insights into the future of OSA management.

Dr. Cheng-Jung Wu
Dr. Ming-Shao Tsai
Dr. Wen-Te Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Medicina is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • obstructive sleep apnea
  • sleep surgery
  • precision medicine
  • artificial intelligence
  • drug-induced sleep endoscopy (DISE)
  • pharmacotherapy
  • upper airway stimulation
  • pediatric sleep apnea
  • phenotypes

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Published Papers (1 paper)

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Research

23 pages, 1166 KB  
Article
Vitamin D Deficiency Is Associated with a Higher 5-Year Risk of Obstructive Sleep Apnea and CPAP Use in Older Adults: An Anchor-Based Network Meta-Analysis
by Jui-Kun Chiang, Hsueh-Hsin Kao, Po-Han Chiang and Yee-Hsin Kao
Medicina 2026, 62(5), 935; https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina62050935 (registering DOI) - 11 May 2026
Viewed by 250
Abstract
Background and Objectives: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the standard first-line treatment for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Patients with OSA exhibit a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, and CPAP treatment has been reported to improve vitamin D levels. [...] Read more.
Background and Objectives: Continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) is the standard first-line treatment for patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Patients with OSA exhibit a higher prevalence of vitamin D deficiency, and CPAP treatment has been reported to improve vitamin D levels. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the association between vitamin D deficiency and the risk of patients receiving a diagnosis of OSA or utilizing CPAP, using the TriNetX research network to obtain real-world data. Materials and Methods: A retrospective cohort study using the TriNetX database was conducted to investigate the relationship between vitamin D deficiency and patients with risk of receiving an OSA diagnosis or patients treated with CPAP in older adults (≥65 years). Patients were stratified into four groups according to serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D [25(OH)D] levels: severe deficiency (D10, ≤10 ng/mL), mild deficiency (D20, 11–20 ng/mL), insufficient vitamin D status (S30, 21–30 ng/mL), and normal vitamin D status (N100, 31–100 ng/mL). After 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM) to adjust for baseline covariates, patients were followed for up to 5 years for newly diagnosed OSA and CPAP use (an administrative-clinical outcome influenced by non-disease-related factors such as healthcare access and clinical practice), with vitamin D status assessed at the index date. An anchor-based network meta-analysis was also performed to integrate direct and indirect evidence across groups. Results: A total of 2,289,855 eligible patients were included and stratified into four groups: D10 (n = 161,610; 7.06%), D20 (n = 404,954; 17.68%), S30 (n = 648,989; 28.34%), and N100 (n = 1,074,302; 46.92%). Across the six pairwise comparisons, pre-matching baseline imbalances showed consistent patterns: lower vitamin D groups (particularly D10 and D20) generally had older age at index (in comparisons with S30 or D20), a higher proportion of males, and higher proportions of Black/African American patients, whereas higher vitamin D groups (especially N100 and S30) had higher proportions of White patients (and, in some comparisons, Asian patients). Comorbidity differences were modest overall, and these imbalances were substantially reduced after PSM. In both pairwise PSM analyses and the anchor-based network meta-analysis, severe vitamin D deficiency was observationally associated with the risk of receiving an OSA diagnosis and CPAP use. An observational trend appeared across vitamin D categories (D10 > D20 > S30), suggesting an association. The associations were strongest at 1 year and gradually attenuated over the 3- and 5-year follow-up periods. An E-value greater than 3 was observed only for the comparison between the D10 and N100 groups. Conclusions: In this real-world analysis of older adults, vitamin D deficiency, particularly severe deficiency, was observationally associated with increased 5-year risk of receiving an OSA diagnosis and CPAP use. Similarly, anchor-based network meta-analysis also showed an association between vitamin D deficiency severity and the risk of receiving an OSA diagnosis and CPAP use. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Obstructive Sleep Apnea: New Insights and Future Directions)
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