Bright light glasses for leftover daytime sleepiness in obstructive sleep apnea
Tests light-therapy glasses against sham glasses for daytime sleepiness despite CPAP use.
Key facts
- Who runs it
- VA Office of Research and Development
- Where
- Pittsburgh, United StatesSee the site
- Trial code
- Registry title
- Bright Light Therapy for OSA
- Status
- Recruiting
- People taking part
- 60 people, planned
- Started
- 26 Oct 2024
- Expected to end
- 31 Dec 2027
- Type of study
- Interventional, 2 groupsOne group gets a sham (pretend) treatment, for comparison.
- Treatments tested
- BLT
- s-BLT
- Record updated
- 9 January 2026
Who can take part
AI summary
From the trial's eligibility criteria. Machine-read from the registry text on this page, so it can be wrong. The registry text below and the trial team decide who can take part.
The trial is looking for adults with obstructive sleep apnea who still feel very sleepy in the daytime despite using CPAP. It tests bright light therapy glasses against sham (fake) glasses.
- Age
- 40 Years to 65 Years
- Sex
- All sexes can join
- Disease stage
- Diagnosed obstructive sleep apnea that is well controlled on CPAP (AHI of 10 or less), but with excessive daytime sleepiness (Epworth score > 10).
- Earlier treatment
- Must be on CPAP or BiPAP for at least 3 months, worn >6h/night on at least 75% of nights. Alertness medicines must be at a stable dose for at least one month. People already prescribed bright light therapy must not have used it for at least one month.
Main reasons for not taking part
- Shift work or travel across time zones in the past month
- Narcolepsy, primary central sleep apnea needing oxygen, or regular sleeping pill use
- Decompensated heart failure, poorly controlled diabetes (HgA1c>8% (64 mmol/mol)), dementia, active substance use disorder, or untreated bipolar disorder
- Macular degeneration, lasik surgery within 3 months, or legally blind
- Taking medicines causing sensitivity to blue-green light, or already using bright light therapy
The registry criteria, word for word
Show all 19 criteriaShow less
Who can take part
- Documented diagnosis of OSA
- Currently on CPAP or BiPAP for at least 3 months; with documented adherence (defined as wearing CPAP/BiPAP for >6h/night on at least 75% of nights), and adequate control of sleep apnea, as indicated by an AHI of 10 or less when on CPAP
- Excessive residual daytime sleepiness (Epworth score > 10)
- If taking alertness promoting medication, the investigators will require that they are on a stable dose for at least one month prior to entering the study and that they refrain from dose changes while participating in the study
- If already prescribed BLT, subjects must not have used it for at least one month prior to participating
Who cannot take part
- Primary central sleep apnea, needing O2 therapy via nasal cannula
- Macular degeneration, recent lasik surgery (within 3 months)
- Taking medication that will cause photosensitivity to blue-green light spectrum wavelength
- Already using bright light therapy
- Decompensated congestive heart failure (CHF)
- Poorly controlled diabetes (HgA1c>8%)
- Active substance use disorder
- Dementia
- Untreated bipolar disorder; the investigators will consider individuals with a diagnosis of bipolar disorder who are currently in treatment and stable
- Shift work
- Travel across time zones in the past month
- Narcolepsy
- Regular hypnotics use
- Legally blind
Check if you might fit
Answer for yourself. This is not a decision: only the study team can say whether you can take part.
- Are you between 40 and 65 years old?
Where in United States
- VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System University Drive Division, Pittsburgh, PAPittsburgh, United StatesContact: Isabella Soreca, MDTaking people
About the trial
What the trial wants to find out
Persistent daytime symptoms of sleepiness in individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who are using Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) are associated with adverse long term medical and functional outcomes. Supplementary exposure to bright light has beneficial effects on sleep quality and daytime vigilance in healthy individuals and it has been increasingly applied in a variety of sleep and neuropsychiatric conditions. This study will explore the role of Bright Light Therapy (BLT), a well-established non-pharmacological intervention for circadian disturbances, for the treatment of residual daytime symptoms of OSA which do not respond to CPAP. BLT will be delivered via therapy glasses in a cross-over design, where each participant will be exposed to active treatment and sham treatment (4 weeks in each arm) in a randomized order. The hypothesis is that participants will demonstrate improvements in the variables of interest during the four-week active treatment portion of the eight-week crossover study, compared to the four-week sham treatment portion.
The 2 groups in the trial
- BLTTreatment being tested
Bright light therapy delivered via glasses
- s-BLTSham treatment, for comparison
Sham Bright light therapy
Questions to ask the study team
- How often do I need to come in, and for how long each time?
- Are travel costs paid?
- Can I keep my own doctor?
- What happens if I want to stop?
Contact the study team: see the registry record → Contacts and Locations
Print a page for my doctorData and sources
- Registry record
- Listed on ClinicalTrials.gov.
- Official title
- Bright Light Therapy for Residual Daytime Symptoms Associated With Obstructive Sleep Apnea
- Plain-language title
- Bright light glasses for leftover daytime sleepiness in obstructive sleep apneaGenerated from the registry record. The registry title is the official one.
- AI summary
- From the trial's eligibility criteria. Read by machine on 14 November 2026.
- Fit questions
- Built from NCT05917119, who can take part
- Record updated
- 9 January 2026