Effect of Gender, Age, and Profound Disease on Upper Airway Stimulation Outcomes.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate treatment outcomes of upper airway stimulation (UAS) in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients based on patient age, gender, and preoperative disease severity. METHODS: Retrospective chart review of patients undergoing UAS from 2014 to 2018 at a tertiary care center. Data collected included demographic information, implantation records, and pre- and postoperative polysomnography (PSG) results. Profound OSA was defined as AHI >65 and age >/=65 was considered advanced age. The primary outcome measured was initial treatment response, defined as a post-operative AHI 50% reduction from baseline. RESULTS: 145 patients underwent UAS at our institution including 98 males and 47 females with a mean age of 61.7 +/- 11.5 years, mean BMI of 29.1 +/- 3.9 kg/m(2), and mean preoperative AHI of 34.1 +/- 18.2 events/hour. After surgery, patients had a significantly lower mean AHI of 8.6 +/- 15.0 events/hour ( /=65 years were less likely to have an initial response to treatment, when compared to their younger counterparts. A larger proportion of elderly patients and patients with profound OSA had residual moderate disease (AHI > 15) after UAS. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4.