Finnish Sleep Cohort

10-year follow-up of initially healthy and sleep apnea patients to determine the time of onset in the past and predict the progression of the disease in the future

Summary: We will start a globally unique and large prospective follow-up study of initially healthy subjects and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients. We will develop revolutionary clinical methods to determine the time after the onset of OSA, predict its progression, and define how well OSA treatment restores normal sleep. The project will be conducted at the University of Eastern Finland. We aim to recruit all persons aged 30-34 from the North Savo (Finland) region. Healthy subjects will be followed for 10 years, and OSA patients and treatment efficacy for 3 years, with repeated home and in-lab measurements. The collected dataset (Finnish Sleep Cohort) will be released in open access and combined with the Biobank of Eastern Finland. The results will lead to scientific breakthroughs by providing methods to estimate how long the patient has suffered from OSA before diagnosis, as well as the prediction of OSA progression and treatment efficiency, enabling early treatment and lifestyle interventions.

Figure: OSA severity progresses at a different pace between patients, possibly affecting the effectiveness of treatments. We aim to provide tools to (A) determine the time after the onset of OSA in the past, (B) predict the onset of OSA in the future, (C) estimate how fast the severity of OSA progresses, and (D) study how successful treatment restores normal sleep.

Research period: 1.9.2024–31.8.2028

Funding: Academy Project Funding 2024 and the State Research Funding for university-level health research, Kuopio University Hospital, Wellbeing Service County of North Savo