MU Research Duo Tops List of Most Prolific Authors of Obstructive Sleep Apnea Articles

An international peer-reviewed medical journal examining global research trends in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) found two University of Missouri researchers as leading the world in publishing content on OSA over the past decade.

A study published last month in the Annals of Palliative Medicine analyzed the quantity and quality of all published OSA-related articles and listed David Gozal, MD, the Marie M. and Harry L. Smith Endowed Chair of Child Health at the MU School of Medicine, as the most productive author globally from 2001-2020. Gozal authored 234 articles during that span, 40 more than the second-most published author.

Gozal is considered a pioneer in the study of childhood sleep problems and the relationship between sleep disorders and neurobehavioral, cardiovascular and metabolic disease across the lifespan. His research has been funded by multiple National Institutes of Health grants and focuses on translational approaches to pediatric sleep disorders, such as childhood OSA and sudden infant death syndrome. Leila Kheirandish-Gozal, MD, professor and director of the Child Health Research Institute was listed as the 10th-most published author on the list on her own right, and the sum of their collaborative and highly innovative work positions the University of Missouri Sleep Program as one of the global leaders in the discipline.