Subramanian S et al. - Obese patients also develop a syndrome of obesity-hypoventilation characterized by waketime hypercarbia, by mechanisms that are not entirely clear. Genetic mechanisms influencing obesity and OSA are bidirectional and likely exert mutually additive effects. Medical weight loss can be a treatment for OSA, but bariatric surgery has played an increasingly prominent role in the theraputic paradigm for OSA in the morbidly obese, with success rates of 85%.