Remifentanil in Adults With OSA

Summary

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) is the most common problem that affects sleep. People with this problem have their airway blocked or minimized, causing snoring or gasping while sleeping. It can also reduce the amount of oxygen that circulates in the blood of people affected by it. Millions of Americans have OSA; 10% of adults have diagnosed OSA, an estimated 25% have undiagnosed OSA. There is concern in the medical community about how to manage pain in patients with OSA because of the risk of decreased or slower breathing associated with certain pain medications called opioids. Giving OSA patients opioids could cause them to have even lower oxygen amounts in their blood stream. It is conceivable that patients with OSA may require lower doses of opioids to cause decreased breathing as compared to patients without OSA, however this has not been proven. In this study, we are using a very short acting and easily reversible opioid pain medication called remifentanil in patients with OSA in order to find out if treated and untreated OSA patients respond to opioid differently than patients without OSA.

Timeline

Start

2016-09-16

Primary completion

2018-05-02

Completion

2018-05-02

Publications

• Maharaj AR, Montana MC, Hornik CP, Kharasch ED. Opioid use in treated and untreated obstructive sleep apnoea: remifentanil pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics in adult volunteers. Br J Anaesth. 2025 Mar;134(3):681-692. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2024.10.042. Epub 2025 Jan 20.
• Montana MC, McLeland M, Fisher M, Juriga L, Ercole PM, Kharasch ED. Opioid sensitivity in treated and untreated obstructive sleep apnoea: a prospective cohort study. Br J Anaesth. 2024 Jan;132(1):145-153. doi: 10.1016/j.bja.2023.09.032. Epub 2023 Nov 7.

Drugs

Indications