Sleep apnea is a highly prevalent respiratory disease with severe health consequences associated with cell and organ dysfunctions in most major organs. For decades, sleep apnea has been considered as a men's disease due to the large male prevalence in early surveys, but it is now largely acknowledged that roughly 1/3 of all patients are women and that the prevalence of sleep apnea increases after menopause in women. Moreover, recent epidemiological studies have highlighted that the comorbidities of sleep apnea are also sex-specific, yet our knowledge on the role of sex and sex-hormones in these patients is extremely limited.
Regardless of the underlying cause (repeated obstructions of upper airways or cessation of neuronal respiratory bursts) sleep apnea exposes the organism to brief bouts of hypoxic exposures with a frequency depending on the severity of the disease. This can be conveniently reproduced by exposures to intermittent hypoxia, and there is a rich literature using such animal models to better understand how sleep apnea leads to multiple cellular and functional dysfunctions. It is however striking that males are still overwhelmingly represented in this literature, with little or no considerations on the role of sex and sex-hormones. Similarly, our understanding on the role of sex and sex-hormones on the neuronal network that control breathing and airway muscle tone under conditions of intermittent hypoxia or in sleep apnea patients is still limited.
The goal of this research topic will be to highlight:
1) the differences in comorbidities between men and women, and between pre- and post-menopausal women.
2) the different end-organ dysfunctions and cellular alterations as reported in animal models of sleep-apnea.
3) the different mechanisms by which sex hormones can interact with intermittent hypoxia to alter the cellular responses and modify the co-morbidities of sleep apnea in men and women.
We expect to attract a multidisciplinary panel of authors as follow:
1) Clinicians with an expertise in epidemiology that are seeking to document sleep apnea comorbidities in men and women
2) Basic science researchers working on animal model of sleep apnea, whether or not they have included male and female animals in their research
3) Basic science researchers working on the role of sex and sex-hormones in animal models whether or not they have included intermittent hypoxia in their models.
The objective of point 3 will be to generate novel hypothesis on potential interactions between sex/sex-hormones and the cellular/organism responses to intermittent hypoxia. The contribution could be full length articles or invited commentaries for selected papers presented in points 1 or 2.
The scope of the Research Topic is to further our understanding of the interactions between sex hormones and intermittent hypoxia in animal models of sleep apnea.
Author are invited to submit full length papers or commentaries, and can present original research, review, or any convenient mix of original data and literature review.
While it is not a prerequisite to integrate sex and sex-hormone considerations for a paper dealing with intermittent hypoxia, we highly encourage you to have a specific point on this topic, even if still hypothetical.