James Herdegen, MD

Experts discuss how automatic positive airway pressure (APAP) therapy provides a personalized, accessible alternative to traditional continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), especially amid staffing shortages in sleep medicine, with advances in connected devices and artificial intelligence (AI)–driven tools helping clinicians optimize treatment and patient support despite limited resources.

Experts discuss how continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) remains the cornerstone of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) treatment, emphasizing the importance of early patient education, personalized mask fitting, and clear communication about the health risks of untreated OSA to improve adherence and highlight tangible benefits such as increased energy and safety.

Experts discuss the importance of in-lab sleep studies for patients with significant comorbidities or complex sleep disorders such as parasomnias, emphasizing the comprehensive monitoring and technician oversight they provide, as well as their role in confirming or clarifying home test results; they also highlight that clear patient instructions and maintaining usual routines are vital to ensuring accurate and reliable sleep study outcomes.

Experts discuss the evolving role of home-based sleep testing in diagnosing obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), noting its growing popularity due to convenience and patient comfort, while emphasizing that device simplicity, patient education, and pretest probability are key to reliability—though in-lab polysomnography remains essential for complex or comorbid cases, underscoring the complementary value of both approaches in modern sleep medicine.

Experts discuss the utility of the STOP-Bang questionnaire as a simple, sensitive screening tool for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in primary care, highlighting its strengths and limitations, the importance of clinical judgment in interpreting results, and the value of complementary tools such as the Epworth Sleepiness Scale in supporting a comprehensive, patient-centered approach to OSA diagnosis and management.

Experts discuss the widespread underdiagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), emphasizing its significant impact on quality of life and comorbid conditions, the critical role of primary care in early detection, the importance of family input in recognizing symptoms, and the need for proactive, multidisciplinary strategies to ensure timely diagnosis and effective management.