Sleep medicine reviews
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Sleep medicine reviews · Apr 2018
Review Meta AnalysisCognitive deficits in obstructive sleep apnea: Insights from a meta-review and comparison with deficits observed in COPD, insomnia, and sleep deprivation.
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a nocturnal breathing disorder that is associated with cognitive impairment. The primary determinants of cognitive deficits in OSA are thought to be sleep disruption and blood gas abnormalities. Cognitive impairment is also seen in other disorders that are characterised primarily by sleep disturbance (e.g., sleep restriction/deprivation, insomnia) or hypoxia/hypercarbia (e.g., chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)). ⋯ Both OSA and sleep deprivation studies were accompanied by deficits in attention and memory, suggesting that short-term sleep disturbance in OSA may contribute to deficits in these domains. Visuospatial deficits were unique to OSA, suggesting the contribution of a mechanism other than sleep disturbance and hypoxia/hypercarbia to this problem. Our findings suggest that the cognitive deficits associated with untreated OSA are multidimensional, with different physiological disturbances responsible for differing cognitive problems.