Sleep Disorders clinical trials at University of California Health

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 increasing the risk for heart attacks and strokes. 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. Of note, especially young adults (i.e. 18 to 50 years old) benefit from treating their OSA, but they are also less likely to use the mask. 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. Especially young adults with OSA are likely to respond well to this drug. Further, its low cost (66¢/day) and once- daily dosing may be particularly attractive for young OSA patients unable or unwilling to wear a mask each night. But previous studies had many limitations and did not focus on young adults. The goal of this study is to test if acetazolamide can improve sleep apnea and cardiovascular health in young adults with OSA (18-50 years old), and how it does that. Thus, we will treat 46 young OSA patients with acetazolamide or placebo for 2 weeks each. The order in which participants receive the drug or placebo will be randomized. At the end of each 2 week period we will assess OSA severity and cardiovascular health. 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 (including select individuals >50 years of age). Ultimately, this work promises a drug therapy option for millions of OSA patients who are unable to tolerate current treatments.

This study will obtain preliminary information about whether, and at what dose, cannabidiol (CBD) may help with insomnia in people living with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). The study will be a 5-week randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled phase II trial using daily oral CBD doses between 50mg and 600mg. Sleep problems will be measured using a wrist-worn device and by self-report. Performance on tests of thinking skills will be compared before and after CBD/placebo treatment. Positive study results will provide support for the use of CBD as a potential treatment for insomnia.

This is a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomized, crossover trial aimed at assessing the effect of gabapentin and tizanidine, two pain medications, on insomnia in chronic pain patients.

Substance use disorder (SUD) and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) frequently co-occur and having both disorders is associated with greater psychological and functional impairment than having either disorder alone. This is especially true in residential settings where both disorders are more severe than outpatient settings. Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is highly comorbid with both disorders and untreated OSA is associated with worse functional impairment across multiple domains, worse quality of life, worse PTSD, higher suicidal ideation, and higher substance use and relapse rates. Treating OSA with evidence-based positive airway pressure (PAP) in Veterans with SUD/PTSD on a residential unit is a logical way to maximize treatment adherence and treatment outcomes. This study compares OSA treatment while on a SUD/PTSD residential unit to a waitlist control group. The investigators hypothesize that treating OSA on the residential unit, compared to the waitlist control, will have better functional, SUD, and PTSD outcomes.

Aim 1: The Investigators will perform a cross-sectional study to examine vascular risk in individuals with OVS compared with matched individuals with OSA alone or COPD alone. The PI will examine a panel of biomarkers including cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (right ventricular mass primary outcome), flow mediated vasodilation, plasma biomarkers (BNP, troponin, hsCRP, ST2, galectin3, miR-210). This aim will allow the team to test the hypothesis that individuals with OVS have increased vascular risk compared with matched individuals with OSA alone or COPD alone. This aim will also allow the team to compare the magnitude of the effect of OSA vs. COPD vs OVS for design of subsequent basic and clinical studies. Aim 2: The Investigators will perform an interventional study in individuals with OVS to compare the impact of bi-level therapy with that of oxygen therapy (the current standard of care). The team will assess the same panel of biomarkers as in Aim 1 to determine the impact of treatment on the observed abnormalities. This aim will allow the team to test the hypothesis that bi-level therapy is superior to oxygen in the treatment of individuals with OVS from the standpoint of right ventricular mass and other cardiovascular risk parameters/outcomes. Our assessments of biomarkers will help to define potential causal pathways for our findings and will allow determination of appropriate biomarkers for subsequent multicenter studies.

Obesity is a common risk factor for the development of obstructive sleep apnea. However, not all subjects with obesity develop obstructive sleep apnea. This study will attempt to determine the mechanistic drivers between obesity and obstructive sleep apnea.