ArticleNature and science of sleep2026
The Effect of Different Sleep Positions on the Severity of Obstructive Sleep Apnea: A Retrospective Study.
Article in Nature and science of sleep, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Positional sleep apnea is a subtype of obstructive sleep apnea where severity is influenced by the patient's sleeping position. Previous studies have compared supine to non-supine positions; the effect of right lateral versus left lateral position remains in question. Our objective is to study and compare the severity of obstructive sleep apnea across different sleeping positions. Methods: We conducted a retrospective, single-centered study on 338 adult patients (age ≥18 years) diagnosed with Obstructive Sleep Apnea on home sleep study test in the time period between January 2023 and January 2025 in an outpatient community clinic. Linear mixed-effects models were used for statistical analyses. Results: The mean age of the participants was 55.29 years, with an average AHI of 29.54. Supine position was associated with a higher AHI than prone position (Adjusted model SE= 1.06, p=0.001). However, there were no significant differences between left and right positions across different patients (p =0.327) nor within the same patient (SE 1.31, P 0.65). Comparing sleep positions that were observed more than 20% of the time showed that supine positioning was associated with a significantly higher AHI than right-lateral positioning (CI 15.08-20.61; P<0.001) and left-lateral positioning (95% CI 14.49-20.23; P<0.001). No significant difference was identified between left- and right-lateral positioning (95% CI -2.64 to 3.61; P=0.762). Conclusion: There was no statistically significant difference between right lateral and left lateral positions on sleep apnea severity, whereas supine position had the highest AHI in comparison to all sleeping positions. Positional therapy remains a valid option for patients with supine‑predominant OSA. Further large scale studies are recommended to compare the true nature and severity of sleep apnea of each sleeping position.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.