A perspective on precision medicine in obstructive sleep apnea: from pathophysiological phenotyping to integrated management pathways

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a condition defined by complex biological causes and highly varied symptoms. The traditional "one-size-fits-all" treatment approach, which depends on a single measurement like the Apnea-Hypopnea Index (AHI), frequently fails to provide individualized care, leading to poor results and low treatment adherence for many patients. Precision medicine offers a solution by using many different types of data to create detailed patient profiles. This data includes the specific physical causes of a patient's OSA, their unique symptoms and other health conditions, biological markers, and information from ongoing monitoring. This detailed profiling allows doctors to group patients more precisely and match them to targeted treatments, such as procedures to open the airway, medications to stabilize breathing, and personalized lifestyle changes. The goal is to shift OSA care from a focus on standardized devices to plans built around the individual patient. To make this future a reality, the medical field needs standardized tools for patient profiling, strong clinical trials to prove these new methods work, and better teamwork across medical specialties. This coordinated effort is essential to make care for OSA more effective, personalized, and accessible to all who need it.