Obstructive sleep apnea may cause cognitive decline in middle-aged men

Key takeaways:

• Middle-aged men with obstructive sleep apnea had worse executive function and other cognitive factors.
• The findings provide the first evidence for a link between obstructive sleep apnea and social cognition.

Middle-aged men with obstructive sleep apnea had worse executive function, visuospatial memory, social cognitive and other features of cognitive function, according to data published in Frontiers in Sleep.

Valentina Gnoni, MD, a PhD student and research assistant at King’s College London, and colleagues enrolled 34 middle-aged men (mean age, 34 years) to participate in cognitive tests, which evaluated functions such as reaction time, visuospatial memory, short-term visual memory, social cognition, emotion recognition, executive function, spatial planning, impulse control and response inhibition.

All participants underwent at-home respiratory testing and sleep center-based video-polysomnography to diagnose obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and evaluate its severity when applicable. In total, there were 27 men with a de novo diagnosis of OSA and seven men with no OSA. Among men with OSA, there were 16 mild cases and 11 severe cases. None of the participants had concomitant comorbidities.

Compared with the control group, men with OSA had worse cognitive function on tests assessing vigilance, executive function, short-term visual recognition memory and social and emotion recognition. This was especially true for men with severe OSA, the researchers wrote.

Notably, this study provides the first evidence that OSA is associated with social cognition, according to the researchers.

“Our study is a proof of concept. However, our findings suggest that comorbidities likely worsen and perpetuate any cognitive deficits caused directly by OSA itself,” Ivana Rosenzweig, PhD, MRCPsych, FRCPsych, senior study author and a clinical reader in the neuroscience of sleep at King’s College London, said in a press release. “What remains to be clarified in future studies is whether comorbidities have an additive or synergistic effect on the latter deficits, and whether there is a difference in brain circuitry in OSA patients with or without comorbidities.”

References:

• Dijkstra M. Obstructive sleep apnea may directly cause early cognitive decline. https://blog.frontiersin.org/2023/04/06/frontiers-sleep-obstructive-sleep-apnea-cognitive-decline/. Published April 6, 2023. Accessed April 20, 2023.
• Gnoni V, et al. Front Sleep. 2023;doi:10.3389/frsle.2023.1097946.