Sleep Conference Promises Focus on OSA, Artificial Intelligence in Annual Meeting

The Sleep 2026 Annual Meeting continues to provide up-to-date education to all experts in attendance, as the conference features several sessions focused on artificial intelligence (AI), obstructive sleep apnea (OSA), and heart health as they relate to sleep medicine. The conference will take place in Baltimore, Maryland, from June 14 through June 17, 2026.1

OSA is a prominent topic that will be featured throughout all 4 days of the conference.2 The clinical implementation of wearables in OSA will be a topic of focus on Monday, as experts discuss how wearables, such as smart devices, can be used in monitoring a patient’s condition and addressing it effectively. A separate session on Tuesday will focus on the management of obesity in OSA. Obesity has been linked to the incidence of OSA in the past, with a linear relationship between being overweight or obese and OSA. Addressing obesity and overweight in patients with OSA could help to reduce the symptoms and adverse effects that come with OSA. This session will focus on how to manage both effectively.

AI will also take center stage on Monday, as a session will focus on the potential pitfalls of using AI in the medical setting. Chair Aatif Husain, MD, will lead the discussion on global, legal, and training pitfalls in AI when implementing it into sleep medicine. As AI becomes a frequent tool used within the health care space, knowing the potential disadvantages is important in avoiding issues in treating patients and collecting information about their condition.

The link between heart health and sleep will also be touched on during the conference. Joyce Lee-Iannotti, MD, will chair an early morning session on Tuesday that will focus on how Life’s Essential 8 guidelines from the American Heart Association can link to OSA, narcolepsy, insomnia, and restless legs syndrome. Life’s Essential 8 indicates 8 components of cardiovascular health, including healthy levels of blood lipids, blood glucose, and blood pressure; avoidance of nicotine; healthy sleep; healthy diet; and participation in physical activity. For those with sleep disorders, healthy sleep could be hard to come by. Addressing this section of the guidelines could improve heart and brain health in those with sleep disorders.

The treatment of central sleep apnea will be touched on during a session on Wednesday, as Snigdha Pusalavidyasagar, MD, will chair a session on advances in the treatment of central sleep apnea in heart failure. The session will tie in the overarching cardiology focus of the meeting while also focusing on the less common form of sleep apnea, which can still have major effects on heart health.

Late-breaking abstracts will be presented on Tuesday, with select abstracts presented by their authors. Posters will be presented throughout the conference in the exhibit hall, with more than a thousand different abstracts set to be presented throughout the conference. The abstracts will cover circadian science and clinical sleep science, including abstracts on sleep and circadian disparities, insomnia, hypersomnia, pediatrics, sleep deprivation, and neurologic and psychiatric disorders related to sleep.

The Sleep 2026 Annual Meeting will have something for all experts in the space to look for, and many panels and sessions to attend. The conference will provide opportunities for clinicians to learn more about how sleep can affect overall health and how sleep disorders can be treated effectively across all diagnoses.