Cognitive Functions in Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Observing the Effects of Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Treatment in Aging Patients

Objective: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is known to have disruptive effects on cognitive functions (CFs) in advanced ages. The aim of this study was to reveal the effect(s) of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment on CFs in older patients with OSA. Materials and Methods: Follow-up comparisons were conducted after 6 months of CPAP treatment in pulmonary medicine departments outpatient clinic of a reference university hospital. Patients were included to study after one-night hospitalization for polysomnographic assessments. All participants underwent a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation which was repeated after an average of 6 months of regular CPAP treatment. Moderate to severe OSA patients with mean age of 64.9 (n=30; female 56.7%) and control group (CG) with mean age of 67.13 (n=30; female 50%) were included.Results: OSA patients displayed poorer performance in executive functions and memory as compared to the CG. After the CPAP treatment an improvement was observed on memory; significantly on immediate recall (p=0.044), learning (p=0.017) and recognition (p=0.033) scores of older OSA patients. Also, the clock drawing test scores ameliorated after treatment (p=0.046).Conclusion: Examining memory functions to its processes showed that OSA may impair learning and free recalling of the recently encoded memory inputs. Follow-up results suggested that the disruption of CFs that may be due to the sleep breathing disorder itself, significantly benefited from 6 months of regular CPAP treatment in older patients with moderate to severe OSA.