• Lucia Sukys-Claudino, Walter Moraes, Christian Guilleminault, Sergio Tufik, and Dalva Poyares.
• Department of Psychobiology, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, R. Professor Francisco de Castro, 93, São Paulo, SP 04020-050, Brazil. lucia.claudino@ufsc.br
• Sleep Med. 2012 Mar 1; 13 (3): 290-6.

Introduction/ObjectivesPrevious publications have shown beneficial effects of cholinergic medication on obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in Alzheimer's disease (AD) patients. We hypothesized that cholinergic medication could also improve OSA in non-AD patients. The present study evaluated the effects of donepezil on OSA in non-AD patients.MethodsA randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study was conducted. The final sample consisted of 21 male patients with mild to severe OSA and AHI >10 divided into two groups, a donepezil-treated group (n=11) and a placebo-treated group (n=10). The dosage was one tablet/day (5 mg) for the first two weeks and two tablets/day (10 mg) for the last two weeks. Polysomnography and sleepiness evaluations were performed at baseline and after one month of treatment. Groups were compared using two-way ANOVA for repeated measures with treatment-group and treatment-time as the main factors and time-treatment as an interaction effect.ResultsConsidering the effect of the interaction with time-treatment, there was a significant improvement in the obstructive apnea/hypopnea index, desaturation index, percentage of time with O(2) saturation ≤3% lower than baseline, lowest oxygen saturation, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) scores with donepezil treatment (p<0.05). Sleep efficiency significantly decreased (p<0.01).ConclusionsDonepezil treatment improved obstructive sleep apnea index, oxygen saturation, and sleepiness in parallel with a reduction in sleep efficiency. Our findings support the concept that cholinergic transmission may influence breathing regulation in OSA patients.Copyright © 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

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