Take-home messages from the Sleep and Breathing Conference 2021
| Session | Type | Take-home messages |
| Sleep disordered breathing and cardiovascular disease: still an open problem | Symposium | Cardiovascular risk factors need to be better quantified in obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) patients. Sleep disordered breathing other than OSA and its association with cardiovascular risk should be considered for further studies. |
| Sleep apnoea and cancer: how strong is the link? | Pro/con debate | Potential OSA-related tumourigenic mechanisms can be listed as intermittent hypoxaemia, sleep fragmentation and circadian cycle disruption. The results of current epidemiological studies have not supported the evidence obtained by translational research. Further research is needed especially on single organ cancer type, the effect of OSA treatment, and OSA-related specific cancer biomarkers. |
| Circadian disruption in sleep and health | Symposium | Circadian disruption may increase the susceptibility to mental disorders. The daylight-saving time should be carefully revised, given its debatable importance and potential adverse consequences. |
| Treatment and management of sleep respiratory diseases | Oral presentation | Not only continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy, but also other therapy options provide benefit on the management of OSA and OSA-related symptoms. Focusing on pharmacological treatment of OSA: pitolisant and solriamfetol seemed to improve OSA-associated excessive daytime sleepiness. |
| Sleep in the new era of COVID | Symposium | The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has a great impact on sleep quality and sleep disorders across all age groups as well as a reduction of sleep medicine services. Sleep medicine faces new challenges due to the pandemic that can be answered by e-health services and implementation of new technologies. |