What is the ESSENTIAL Study?
The ESSENTIAL Study is funded by the National Institutes of Health.
The goal of this clinical trial is to first treat your Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) with a new therapy plan called Rapid Multi-Modal Therapy (RMMT) that involves FDA approved treatments such as CPAP, Oral Appliances and positional therapy to effectively treat your OSA.
We then aim to see if that leads to improvements in Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) biomarkers that may help you reduce risk in developing Alzheimer's later in life.
This is important because we know that there is a significant relationship between sleep and cognition. We are hoping to see that when we improve the quality of your sleep that we see a reduction in risk factors relating to developing AD later on.
What will my role be as a participant?
Your total participation lasts about 2 years and consists of 4 key time points with multiple visits for each time point:
- The baseline visit will be your first visit and will consist of an overnight sleep study, cognitive testing, and an optional MRI.
- You will then be randomized to immediate treatment where you will work with physicians to find the best treatment for your sleep apnea or you will be assigned to wait 3-months until you get your treatment.
- 3 months after baseline or successful treatment we will ask you to come back and do an overnight sleep study and a cognitive testing.
- A short one-year follow-up visit is requested so we can give you a home sleep device and a cognitive testing.
- The final two-year follow up visits include an overnight sleep study, cognitive testing, and interview with a clinician on the study.
If you‘d like to…
Contribute to ground breaking research that will aim to treat your Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and help your sleep, while your confidentiality is maintained as in all research studies.
Learn all the results that could be useful for you.
Receive compensation for your participation, and treat your OSA at no expense to you.
Am I eligible?
You may be eligible if you:
- Are 55-75 years old
- Have moderate or severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA)
- Are not currently on therapy for OSA and has not received treatment for OSA for at least 12 months, but are willing to start treatment for OSA
- Are cognitively normal (are not diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease or dementia)
- Are fluency in English or Spanish
