Night-to-night changes in obstructive sleep apnea symptoms in men and women
Official title: Night- to-Night Variability in Sleep Disordered Breathing: Sex-Related Predictors and Impact on Obstructive Sleep Apnea Clinical Heterogeneity
Funded at University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh · NIH-11195084 · Data updated 2026-11-12
The team will track breathing during sleep at home and daytime symptoms over several nights to find clearer signs of obstructive sleep apnea for men and women, including differences by menopausal status.
Quick facts
| Grant type | R01 grant |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Pittsburgh, United States) |
| Project start | September 19, 2024 |
| Project end | June 30, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $429,651 |
| NIH project number | 5R01HL170675-02 |
| Project ID | NIH-11195084 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults with suspected or diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea, including men and both pre- and post-menopausal women, are ideal candidates for this project.
✕Less likely to help
People without sleep-disordered breathing, children, or anyone unable to complete multi-night home monitoring or the repeated daytime surveys are unlikely to gain direct benefit from participating.
What this research studies
You would wear a home sleep monitor for seven nights while the device records breathing, sleep stages, and related signals, and you would report sleepiness, mood, and stress several times per day using short phone surveys. The study will enroll about 300 adults from two medical centers, with about 100 men and 200 women balanced by menopausal status. Researchers will compare night-to-night changes in breathing and sleep physiology and link those patterns to how you feel and function during the day. The goal is to find more reliable measures of OSA severity that pick up cases that standard measures may miss in women.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this work could help diagnose sleep apnea more fairly across sexes and lead to better-targeted treatment and management of daytime symptoms.
How similar studies have gone: Prior research shows the standard AHI measure often misses OSA in women and most validation was done in men, and combining multi-night home monitoring with repeated daytime reports is a newer approach with promising but not yet definitive support.
Where this research is happening
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University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Morris, Jonna — University of Pittsburgh at Pittsburgh
- Study coordinator: Morris, Jonna
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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.