How breathing drive affects obstructive sleep apnea and guides personalized treatment
Role of ventilatory drive in obstructive sleep apnea: An avenue for precision intervention
This project tests whether brief, small increases in inhaled carbon dioxide can boost breathing drive and stop airway collapse in people with obstructive sleep apnea who show drive‑related events.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Brigham and Women's Hospital NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Boston, United States) |
| Project ID | NIH-11111159 on NIH RePORTER |
What this research studies
If you have obstructive sleep apnea, researchers will record your breathing and throat muscle activity overnight to see when breathing drive drops. For people whose events line up with those drops (called “drive‑dependent”), they will give short, low‑dose CO2 puffs (about 2% for 3–4 breaths) timed to the falling drive to try to prevent airway collapse. They will continuously monitor airflow and muscle signals (diaphragm and tongue muscles) to see whether events are averted when drive is maintained. The goal is to prove the mechanism is causal and to inform new precision treatments for patients who cannot tolerate CPAP.
Who could benefit from this research
Good fit: Ideal candidates are adults with obstructive sleep apnea, particularly those whose breathing pauses occur when neural ventilatory drive falls (the drive‑dependent group).
Not a fit: Patients whose airway collapse persists despite rising ventilatory drive (the classic phenotype) are less likely to benefit from this CO2‑based approach.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could lead to targeted, non‑CPAP treatments that prevent breathing pauses during sleep for a subset of patients.
How similar studies have performed: Prior work identified the drive‑dependent pattern, but using timed, brief CO2 stimulation to prevent events is a novel and experimental approach.
Where this research is happening
Boston, United States
- Brigham and Women's Hospital — Boston, United States (Active)
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Sands, Scott a — Brigham and Women's Hospital
- Study coordinator: Sands, Scott a
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page below.