(1339) Racial Demographics in U.S. Sleep Surgery Research for OSA: A Systematic Review

Introduction: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a highly prevalent multisystem disorder and the racial composition of patients represented in OSA surgical research remains poorly defined. This systematic review aims to evaluate the racial and ethnic demographics of participants included in U.S.-based sleep surgery studies, thereby identifying potential gaps in representation and areas for improvement in future research.

Methods: This study was conducted in accordance with PRISMA guidelines. 4 databases (PubMed, Cochrane, Scopus, Embase) were searched from January 2016 through January 2026. Reviewers identified studies that investigated sleep outcomes following surgical intervention for OSA in adult, US-based patients. Study screening, risk of bias analysis, and data extraction were performed independently by two reviewers. All conflicts were resolved by a third reviewer. Pooled racial and ethnic data of the enrolled subjects in selected studies were analyzed.

Results: Database searches yielded 733 studies; 53 articles were screened, and 30 met the inclusion criteria. Out of 30 studies of US-based patients receiving surgical intervention for OSA, only 20 reported race demographic data, with an average of 65.8% White participants and 12.6% Black participants.

Conclusions: In this review, White patients comprised a disproportionately large percentage of study participants relative to Black patients, which does not mirror the prevalence of OSA by race and ethnicity found in the general population. These findings raise concern regarding the representativeness of the current study populations in sleep surgery. Our findings do represent a trend in more US-based studies reporting race and ethnicity as part of their demographics as compared to previous literature.