Abstract
Introduction: Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) exhibit cognitive dysfunctions such as significant memory impairment affecting the 3 episodic, procedural, and working memory systems. The objective of this study was to investigate the change in memory processes after continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment in OSA patients.
Design and methods: In this randomized, double blinded, parallel groups and sham-controlled trial, 36 patients with OSA (AHI > 15/h) and naive of CPAP treatment were randomized to receive either CPAP (n=18) or sham-CPAP (n=18) for 6-week. Three separate memory systems (verbal episodic, procedural and working memories) were evaluated for all patients, before and after treatment.
Results: Key demographics for the study population were: age 55 ± 11 years, 72.2% male, BMI: 29.5 ± 4.1 kg/m2, AHI: 37.1 ± 16.3 /h. Prior to treatment, memory performances of OSA patients were altered. In intention to treat analysis, mnesic deficit were not different after 6 weeks of CPAP or sham CPAP treatment: verbal episodic, procedural and working memory scores were comparable between both groups.
Conclusions: While 6 weeks of CPAP was an effective treatment for OSA in terms of reducing breathing disruption during sleep, it did not improve memory processes of OSA patientsin terms of verbal episodic memory, visual-motor and reading procedural memory, auditory and spatialworking memory, which are known to be altered in this context. These results suggest that OSA-neurocognitive relationship is complex and further investigations with longer CPAP exposures (at least 2 months) or on selective population (such as severe OSA patients) would be of interest.
- Copyright ©the authors 2016
