. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2020 Feb 3.

Published in final edited form as: Respirology. 2017 May 5;22(5):849–860. doi: 10.1111/resp.13063

Table 1.

DOMAINS OF DIFFERENCES BETWEEN PATIENTS WITH OSA

1. Differences in structural and physiological risk factors	• Structural ○ Craniofacial dimensions ○ Size of soft tissue structures ■ Possible link between obesity and fat deposition • Physiological ○ Collapsibility of the upper airway (P_crit) ○ Upper airway dilator muscle response to negative pharyngeal pressure ○ Overall loop gain of ventilator control system. ○ Arousal threshold to airway narrowing. ○ Heart rate response to arousals
2. Differences in Clinical Characteristics	• Ethnic differences • Gender differences • Differences in clinical presentation: OSA subgroups based on symptoms: disturbed sleep, minimally symptomatic, excessively sleepy
3. Differences in molecular signatures	• OMIC data correlated to physiological data (e.g. arousals and oxygen desaturations) • OMIC data correlated to consequences (e.g. genes of pathways associated with cancer)
4. Differences in consequences of OSA	• Physiological differences (e.g. arousal index and heart rate response to arousals) may predict consequences (e.g. hypertension) • Individuals have variable increased risk of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurodegenerative diseases and cancer.