Patient-centered and Neurocognitive Outcomes With Acetazolamide for Sleep Apnea
Status:
Not yet recruiting
Trial end date:
2027-08-31
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a severe type of snoring causing people to choke in their
sleep. It affects millions of Americans, causing many health problems. For example, patients
with OSA often feel very sleepy and are at risk of falling asleep while driving. OSA also
causes elevated blood pressure, memory problems and can severely affect quality of life.
Patients with OSA are often treated with a face-mask that helps them breath at night but can
be difficult to tolerate. In fact, about half the patients eventually stop using this mask.
Because there are few other treatments (and no drug therapy), many OSA patients are still
untreated.
Acetazolamide (a mild diuretic drug) has been used for over 50 years to treat many different
conditions and is well tolerated. Recent data suggest, that acetazolamide may help OSA
patients to not choke in their sleep and lower their blood pressure. Further, its low cost
(66ยข/day) and once-daily dosing may be attractive for OSA patients unable or unwilling to
wear a mask each night. But previous studies had many limitations such as studying
acetazolamide for only a few days and not capturing important outcomes. The goal of this
study is to test if acetazolamide can improve sleep apnea, neurocognitive function and
quality of life in adults with OSA, and to assess how it does that. Thus, we will treat 60
OSA patients with acetazolamide or placebo for 4 weeks each. The order in which participants
receive the drug or placebo will be randomized. At the end of each 4 week period we will
assess OSA severity, neurocognitive function and quality of life. Thus, this study will help
assess acetazolamide's potential value for OSA treatment, and may also help to identify
patients who are most likely to respond to acetazolamide.
Ultimately, this work promises a drug therapy option for millions of OSA patients who are
unable to tolerate current treatments