The annual meeting of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) and the Sleep Research Society (SRS) recently concluded in Baltimore, Maryland. From June 14 through June 17, SLEEP2026 was four days of informative sessions and research presentations on all aspects of sleep medicine.

With SLEEP2026 concluded, we are taking a look at some of the abstracts presented on topics related to sleep apnea. Some descriptions and conclusions were edited for clarity and brevity. To view all the abstracts presented at SLEEP2026, visit the annual conference’s abstract supplements archive. 

Sleep Apnea Abstracts from AASM 2026

Aging Impact on SubC and A7 Noradrenergic Innervation of the Hypoglossal Nucleus May Contribute to the Increased Prevalence of Obstructive Sleep Apnea

  • Description: Aging has been associated with the neurodegeneration of noradrenergic neurons. [The researchers] hypothesized that aging may also reduce the excitatory drive from pontine noradrenergic neurons to the hypoglossal nucleus that innervates upper airway motoneurons, which would contribute to the increased prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in the aging population. [The researchers] sought to investigate whether aging, one of the major risk-factors of obstructive sleep apnea, affects the noradrenergic innervation of the HN originating from A7 and Subcoeruleus (SubC) neurons.
  • Conclusion: [The] results suggest that aging leads to degeneration of the A7 noradrenergic innervation of the hypoglossal nucleus. The SubC innervation of the hypoglossal nucleus was augmented in the aging brain providing partial compensation for the loss of A7-noradrenergic innervation. However, it may not be sufficient to overcome the age-related increase of upper-airway collapsibility in obstructive sleep apnea patients.

Utility of Large Language Models for Extracting Sleep Apnea Specific Symptoms and Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events from Electronic Health Records

  • Description: Electronic health record clinical notes contain important symptom and event information that is often missing from structured fields. Automated extraction using large language models and supervised natural language processing methods may support scalable clinical research. This study evaluates the utility of multiple methodological approaches, including prompt-based large language models extraction to supervised Bidirectional Encoder Representations from Transformers (BERT)-based classification and Named Entity Recognition (NER), for extraction of symptom and event information.
  • Conclusion: BERT models demonstrated reliable performance for extraction of OSA symptoms and CAD classification from unstructured electronic health record notes (F1> 0.80). large language models-based extraction of cognitive impairment–related symptoms showed moderate performance (F1= 0.76) and was highly sensitive to prompt design and documentation quality. Overall, supervised natural language processing currently provides the most reliable approach for clinical event extraction from electronic health record notes, while large language models show promise for more flexible symptom retrieval.

Evaluating Concordance Between AI Bed Sensors, Sleep Diary, and CPAP Measures in Obstructive Sleep Apnea

  • Description: This case study evaluated concordance among an AI-enabled smart bed, a subjective sleep diary, and CPAP recordings across 22 nights in a patient with obstructive sleep apnea, focusing on sleep duration, awakenings, and the temporal proximity between awakenings and apneic events.
  • Conclusion: The AI-enabled smart bed demonstrated minimal to moderate temporal proximity to CPAP-recorded apneic events, improving only with broader windows. While the AI bed captured general patterns of nighttime disruption, it did not reliably cor- respond to individual apneic episodes.

Impact of Ambient and Indoor PM2.5 Exposure on the Risk and Severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

  • Description: Given the biologically plausible pathways connecting PM2.5 exposure to sleep-related respiratory impairment and the significant public health burden of both air pollution and OSA, a rigorous synthesis of the current evidence is warranted. A meta-analytic evaluation can better delineate the magnitude and consistency of this association.
  • Conclusion: [The] findings indicate that exposure to ambient and indoor PM2.5 might be associated with an increased risk and greater severity of obstructive sleep apnea. These results underscore the importance of considering microenvironmental air quality as a potential modifier of sleep-disordered breathing and highlight the need for studies that integrate refined exposure metrics and mechanistic evaluations.

Chronic Buprenorphine-Induced Central Sleep Apnea and Desaturation

  • Description: The purpose of this study was to determine if chronic use of buprenorphine is associated with sleep disordered breathing.
  • Conclusion: This is the first study to report chronic use of buprenorphine is associated with sleep-disordered breathing. [The researchers] observed two specific patterns. A subset with CSA and most severe sleep apnea and very low saturation. Second, buprenorphine was associated with sustained nocturnal hypoxemia, potentially related to hypoventilation.

Event-Related Airflow Obstruction in Obstructive Sleep Apnea is Associated with Hypertension in the Hispanic Community Health Study

  • Description: Obstructive sleep apnea is a well-established risk factor for hypertension, but not all individuals with obstructive sleep apnea have the same risk. [The researchers] investigated whether specific features of respiratory events—magnitude of ventilation reduction or airflow obstruction—can identify individuals at greatest risk for hypertension.
  • Conclusion: The magnitude of increase in airflow obstruction during respiratory events is associated with prevalent hypertension and the development of hypertension at follow-up. The degree of obstruction per se, beyond its downstream impact on ventilation and hypoxia, may be an important determinant of obstructive sleep apnea-related hypertension risk.

Comorbid Insomnia and Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Huntington’s Disease: A Case Report

  • Description: Sleep disturbances are common in Huntington’s disease, including insomnia, circadian delay, and obstructive sleep apnea. Comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea is associated with greater symptom burden, reduced positive airway pressure (PAP) adherence, and impaired daytime function. Treatment is particularly challenging in neurodegenerative diseases, where fatigue, chorea and cognitive hyperarousal may hinder behavioral interventions. [The researchers] describe a patient with HD and moderate obstructive sleep apnea who achieved rapid insomnia remission using measurement-guided cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia with adaptations for fatigue.
  • Conclusion: In a patient with Huntington’s disease and comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea, tailored cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia produced rapid and durable insomnia remission despite ongoing obstructive sleep apnea and neurologic comorbidity. Strict titration of sleep opportunity, structured daytime napping, and targeted reduction of cognitive hyperarousal were central to treatment success. Behavioral therapy should be considered early in comorbid insomnia and sleep apnea involving neurodegenerative disease, with pragmatic adaptations to support adherence and functional stability.

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