A new study conducted by researchers from University of Australia and Hospital of Perth has discovered the connection between Depression and Sleep Apnea. Their study entitled "Depressive Symptoms before and after Treatment of Obstructive Sleep Apnea in Men and Women" is available for the public on the Official Publication of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine 'Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine'.
According to the study, Depressive symptoms are common in OSA and related to its severity. They improve markedly with CPAP, implying a relationship to untreated OSA.
"Effective treatment of obstructive sleep apnea resulted in substantial improvement in depressive symptoms, including suicidal ideation [...] The findings highlight the potential for sleep apnea, a notoriously underdiagnosed condition, to be misdiagnosed as depression." said senior author David R. Hillman, MD, clinical professor at the University of Western Australia and sleep physician at the Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Perth in a statement to the American Academy of Sleep Medicine.
The study was conducted with a total of 426 participants, 243 males and 183 females, with a median of 52 years. The subjects were all referred to a hospital sleep center for evaluation of suspected sleep apnea.
A validated Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9) were used to assess the depressive symptoms of the participants while overnight in-lab polysomnography were used to observe the presence of obstructive sleep apnea in the patients.
293 out of the 426 participants were diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and were prescribed with Continuous Positive Airways Pressure (CPAP). 228 of the total of OSA positive were treatment-adherent, which was defined as using CPAP therapy for an average of 5 hours or more per night for 3 months.
According to Hillman, sleep apnea is often misdiagnosed for depression because patients have similar symptoms in both affections. Patients with sleep apnea has the possibility to succumb to depression due to the lack of sleep. Proper diagnosis between sleep apnea and depressive tendencies are a must to give the correct necessary treatment for the improvement of the patients.
