Endorsement of “European Respiratory Society guideline on non-CPAP therapies for obstructive sleep apnoea” by World Sleep Society

Guidelines for management of sleep disorders from national or regional societies provide recommendations that may be regionally appropriate but may not always be practical or relevant in other parts of the world. A task force of experts from the World Sleep Society's (WSS) International Sleep Medicine Guidelines Committee and Sleep and Breathing Disorders Task Force reviewed the European Respiratory Society's guideline on non-CPAP therapies for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with respect to its relevance and applicability to the practice of sleep medicine by sleep specialists in various regions of the world. The task force and the WSS guidelines committee endorsed the European Respiratory Society's guideline with respect to the utilization of bariatric surgery, mandibular advancement devices, positioning devices, myofunctional therapy, hypoglossal neurostimulation, maxilo-mandibular surgery, and carbonic anhydrase inhibitors for the treatment of OSA. The task force and the WSS guidelines committee noted that there is substantial new evidence for the role of soft tissue, upper airway surgery, not included in the guidelines paper.