By Sree Roy
Happy new year. As Sleep Review looks forward to 2024, we also like to review what we covered in the past 12 months, particularly those stories that were the most viewed on our website.
So here is a recap of the topics that most engaged sleep specialists in 2023.
1. Philips Provides Updates Related to Its CPAP Recall.
The Philips Respironics recall of specific popular CPAPs, bilevels, and ventilators has continued to be a roller coaster since it was announced in June 2021. Updates have been good, bad, and unclear. Among the good: Risk assessments on the recalled devices have been reassuring. Among the bad: The company had to recall some replacement devices due to programming mistakes. Among the unclear: The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declared Philips’ risk assessments so far to be insufficient.
In Case You Missed It (ICYMI):
- Completes Risk Assessments for Recalled CPAPs and BiPAPs
- Philips Recalls Reworked DreamStation CPAP, BiPAP Machines
- FDA: Philips CPAP Recall Testing Inadequate to Fully Evaluate Risks
2. Sleep Specialist Challenges Inspiratory & Expiratory Pressure Dogma of Positive Airway Pressure Systems.
Sleep specialist William H. Noah, MD, has gained a following via conferences, webinars, peer-reviewed publications, and magazine articles for his argument that today’s positive airway pressure machines have their pressure profiles backward. The upshot is expiratory pressure is key to successful sleep apnea therapy and should not be lessened, while inspiratory pressure could be lessened for most patients without loss of efficacy. Implications include that bilevel devices could be exacerbating therapy problems, and the “full-face” CPAP mask setting is more comfortable for sleep apnea patients using nasal pillow masks.
ICYMI:
- A Potentially Huge CPAP Pressure Mistake
- The Surprising CPAP Mask Setting That Could Help New Patients
- The Bilevel Blunder
3. Research on Sleep and Neurodegeneration Advances.
The idea that sleep and brain health are related isn’t new. But new studies published on this topic in the last 12 months have engaged sleep medicine specialists and further cracked open the door to the notion that sleep is a modifiable risk factor for diseases such as Alzheimer’s.
ICYMI:
- The ‘Vicious Cycle’ of Napping and Alzheimer’s
- Sleep Loss Reduces Crucial Protein, Paving Way for Brain Harm
- How Sleep Illuminates Neurodegenerative Disease Pathways, and Vice Versa
4. Updated FDA Clearances Mean More Obstructive Sleep Apnea Patients Have More Options.
We were surprised to see that an article we published in only the last few weeks was one of the most read of the entire year: The FDA granted an expanded indication to Vivos Therapeutics for its CARE oral appliances to treat moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, a milestone for oral appliance therapy. (The January 2024 issue’s cover story delves into the implications of that clearance.) Also of high interest: Mid-year, the FDA updated the usage indications for Inspire therapy to include an increase on the upper limit of the apnea-hypopnea index to 100 events per hour and an increase in the body mass index warning in the labeling to 40.
ICYMI:
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