Research & Volunteering

Research at AISH focuses on the mechanisms and consequences of sleep disordered breathing.

Breathing disturbance and sleep fragmentation have important daytime consequences including severe daytime sleepiness, neurocognitive impairments and a substantially increased risk of traffic and other accidents. Obstructive sleep apnoea is also associated with cardiovascular disease (eg hypertension and heart disease). Our research group has a strong research interest spanning a broad area of cardiorespiratory and sleep physiology including;

  • Mechanisms that underlie the tendency for upper airway patency and breathing patterns to become unstable during sleep, such as respiratory destabilising effects of brief arousal from sleep and the influence of oral secretions on the stability of the upper airway
  • Factors that may explain why obstructive sleep apnoea is 2-3 times more prevalent in men compared to women
  • The vulnerability to daytime functional impairment when obstructive sleep apnoea coincides with additional factors that influence performance (eg sleep restriction and/or alcohol)
  • Sensory mechanisms underlying the detection and perception of increased respiratory load, and the effects of hypoxia on load detection, perception and respiratory arousal from sleep

Recent key publications

Hilditch, C.J., McEvoy, R.D., George, K.E., Thompson, C.C., Ryan, M.K., Rischmueller, M., Catcheside, P.G. Upper airway surface tension but not upper airway collapsibility is elevated in primary Sjögren's syndrome. Sleep, 2008; 31(3): 367-374.

Vakulin, A., Baulk, S.D., Catcheside, P.G., Anderson, R., van den Heuvel, C.J., Banks, S. & McEvoy, R.D. Effects of moderate Sleep Deprivation and Low dose alcohol on driving simulator performance and perception measures in young men. Sleep, 2007; 30(10): 1327-33.

Lehman S, Antic NA, Thompson C, Catcheside PG, Mercer J, McEvoy RD. Central sleep apnea on commencement of continuous positive airway pressure in patients with a primary diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea. J Clin Sleep Med. 2007; 3(5): 462-6.

Hlavac MC, Catcheside PG, Adams A, Eckert DJ, McEvoy RD. The effects of hypoxia on load compensation during sustained incremental resistive loading in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. J Appl Physiol. 2007; 103(1): 234-9.

Eckert DJ, McEvoy RD, George KE, Thomson KJ, Catcheside PG. Genioglossus reflex inhibition to upper-airway negative-pressure stimuli during wakefulness and sleep in healthy males. J Physiol. 2007; 581(Pt 3): 1193-205.

Nalivaiko E, Catcheside PG, Adams A, Jordan AS, Eckert DJ, McEvoy RD. Cardiac changes during arousals from non-REM sleep in healthy volunteers. Am J Physiol Regul Integr Comp Physiol, 2007; 292: R1320–R1327.

See ALL Publications