Help AASM Update Clinical Guidelines on Sleep Apnea Surgery

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM) is currently working to update its clinical practice guidelines. These guidelines provide practice parameters for how to surgically modify the upper airway in adults with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). These guidelines have an important impact on standardizing physician practice and ensuring that patients get the best quality care.

AASM physicians are currently reviewing the scientific literature to update these guidelines; however, they also want to know what you think:

What do you think about surgical treatments for OSA?

What was your experience?

What are some of your concerns?

We are reaching out to you, MyApnea.Org patients, to see if you are interested in contributing to this project as a volunteer patient stakeholder. The AASM is looking for four volunteers, so get in touch soon if you are interested! Sharing the patient perspective will allow AASM to develop a clinical practice guideline that is useful to both physicians and patients.

Who can volunteer?

1. Patients who have undergone surgical treatment for OSA, or….
2. Patients who weighed the potential benefits and harms of surgery and elected not to undergo surgery, but chose an alternative treatment instead.

Who do I contact? If you are interested, please email support@myapnea.org.

If I volunteer to be a patient stakeholder, what happens next?

1. You will be contacted in the next few weeks as physicians at AASM begin to develop the research questions based on patients’ priorities.
2. You will receive a formal invitation to attend a brief introductory stakeholder conference call to discuss participation and any questions you may have.
3. You will review a one-page educational document and complete a two-part survey on symptoms and side effects. This activity should take approximately 15-20 minutes to complete.