Obstructive sleep apnea is a disorder in which a sufferer pauses breathing when asleep or has shallow breathing. These pauses can occur more than 30 times an hour, due to the airways narrowing or blocking during sleep. The problem is that those affected have a poor quality sleep and suffer a marked feeling of daytime fatigue . In addition, this sleep disturbance has shown a certain relationship with the presence, at a later time, of cerebrovascular accidents such as stroke.
However, tiredness is not the only consequence of obstructive sleep apnea. There are multiple studies that have tried to find out the cognitive problems that occur in these patients . Recently, a study published in the journal Respirology by Bucks, Olaithe & Eastwood has attempted to clarify this question. To this end, the authors have analyzed several systematic reviews on the subject (meta-review) concluding that patients with this type of apnea tend to show deficits in sustained attention and vigilance (such as what we need to remain focused on an activity during a prolonged time) to failures in visual and verbal long-term memory , that is, the ability to recall things learned long ago both in the form of pictures and in words. In addition, alterations in constructive and visuospatial capacities have also been verified, such as when doing a puzzle and problems in executive functions , necessary for planning or solving problems.
Despite such research, scientists still do not have a clear understanding of the effect of apnea on working memory, short-term memory, or global cognitive functioning.
What can be deduced from the studies reviewed is that continuous positive airway pressure treatment seems to improve some of these symptoms (executive functions and memory), in addition to improving the quality of sleep.
Many things remain to be known, such as the role of individual patient characteristics in symptom improvement, as well as the potential benefit of other types of cognitive interventions such as attention and perception exercise programs that can help to improve the situation of these people.
Marisa Fernández, Senior Neuropsychologist, Unobrain
