Sleep Apnea

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- Sleep Apnea -

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Observations:

Sleep apnea

Sleep apnea is the intermittent stoppage of breathing while sleeping. It can cause an array of problems, most notably tiredness during the day and feeling that you didn't get enough sleep. I can also cause heart arrhythmias not only durring the episode while you are asleep, but then throughout the day while you are awake.

In very rare instances, it can cause a person to experience symptoms resembling dementia.

When Sleep Apnea Masquerades as Dementia
New York Times October 6, 2010
By PAULA SPAN
...obstructive sleep apnea — nightlong interruptions in breathing that reduce oxygen flow to the brain and prevent deep sleep. The interruptions can happen 10 or more times an hour and are quite common in older adults, exacerbating — or sometimes mimicking — dementia symptoms.

Treated with a C.P.A.P. machine — the acronym stands for continuous positive airway pressure, a therapy that involves wearing a mask over the nose and/or mouth during sleep — the woman rapidly improved. Her scores on neuropsychological tests eventually climbed back into the normal range. A year later, Dr. Petersen said, “I can’t find any abnormalities.”

Most of the time, cognitive problems won’t evaporate when seniors are treated for sleep apnea. But researchers find that with C.P.A.P., many older patients see marked improvement...
http://newoldage.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/06/when-sleep-apnea-masquerades-as-dementia/

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Known sources:

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Natural sources:

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References:

[Impact of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome on cerebral microbleeds in patients with cerebral infarction].

Nan Fang Yi Ke Da Xue Xue Bao. 2012 Sep;32(9):1362-5.

[Article in Chinese]

Xu J1, Deng L, Zou X, Liu H, Yu Y, Ding Y.

Author information

Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the impact of obstructive sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) on cerebral microbleeds (CMBs) in patients with cerebral infarction.

METHODS: Consecutive patients with acute cerebral infarction who had cerebral microbleeds shown by susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) were enrolled to undergo polysomnography (PSG). The patients were divided into two groups, namely non-OSAHS group with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) less than 5 and OSAHS group with greater AHI, and the clinical and radiological features of cerebral microbleeds were compared between them.

RESULTS: Forty-nine patients were enrolled in this study, including 27 (55.1%) with both cerebral infarction and OSAHS and 22 (44.9%) with cerebral infarction but not OSAHS. A comparison of the risk factors showed that hypertension, a smoking history, and a history of stroke were more prevalent in patients with OSAHS than in those without OSAHS (P<0.05). The incidences of subclinical stroke in OSAHS and non-OSAHS patients were 37.0% (10/27) and 9.0% (2/22) (P<0.05), respectively. Neurological imaging revealed a greater number of cerebral microbleeds in OSAHS group than in non-OSAHS group (P<0.05). In OSAHS patients, 77.8% of the microbleeds were distributed in cortical-subcortical areas, 55.6% in the basal ganglia area, and 25.9% in the infratentorial area, as compared to the percentages of 50.0%, 40.9% and 50.0% in non-OSAHS patients, respectively (P<0.05). In OSAHS patients, 40.7% also had leukoaraiosis, and 48.1% had two or more causes, as compared to the percentages of 13.6% and 18.2% in non-OSAHS patients, respectively (P<0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: OSAHS can be a risk factor for cerebral microbleeds. Patients with both cerebral infarction and OSAHS tend to have greater and more extensive lesions of cerebral microbleeds, more complicated cause of the disease, and a grater likeliness of stroke recurrence.
PMID: 22985584 [PubMed] Free full text
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22985584

Sleep apnea tied to memory problems
Published October 31, 2014
·Reuters
The ability to remember locations and directions may suffer when deep sleep is disrupted by breathing difficulties, a new study suggests.
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2014/10/31/sleep-apnea-tied-to-memory-problems/

Innovative study utilizing video games shows sleep apnea may affect memory of everyday events
Date: October 29, 2014
Source: NYU Langone Medical Center
Summary: Sleep apnea may affect your ability to form new spatial memories, such as remembering where you parked your car, new research suggests. The study demonstrates through the playing of a specific video game that disruption of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as a consequence of sleep apnea impairs spatial memory in humans even when other sleep stages are intact.
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/10/141029203749.htm

Journal Reference:

1.A. W. Varga, A. Kishi, J. Mantua, J. Lim, V. Koushyk, D. P. Leibert, R. S. Osorio, D. M. Rapoport, I. Ayappa. Apnea-Induced Rapid Eye Movement Sleep Disruption Impairs Human Spatial Navigational Memory. Journal of Neuroscience, 2014; 34 (44): 14571 DOI: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3220-14.2014

Apnea-induced rapid eye movement sleep disruption impairs human spatial navigational memory.

J Neurosci. 2014 Oct 29;34(44):14571-7. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.3220-14.2014.

Varga AW1, Kishi A2, Mantua J2, Lim J2, Koushyk V2, Leibert DP2, Osorio RS3, Rapoport DM2, Ayappa I2.

Abstract: Hippocampal electrophysiology and behavioral evidence support a role for sleep in spatial navigational memory, but the role of particular sleep stages is less clear. Although rodent models suggest the importance of rapid eye movement (REM) sleep in spatial navigational memory, a similar role for REM sleep has never been examined in humans. We recruited subjects with severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) who were well treated and adherent with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). Restricting CPAP withdrawal to REM through real-time monitoring of the polysomnogram provides a novel way of addressing the role of REM sleep in spatial navigational memory with a physiologically relevant stimulus. Individuals spent two different nights in the laboratory, during which subjects performed timed trials before and after sleep on one of two unique 3D spatial mazes. One night of sleep was normally consolidated with use of therapeutic CPAP throughout, whereas on the other night, CPAP was reduced only in REM sleep, allowing REM OSA to recur. REM disruption via this method caused REM sleep reduction and significantly fragmented any remaining REM sleep without affecting total sleep time, sleep efficiency, or slow-wave sleep. We observed improvements in maze performance after a night of normal sleep that were significantly attenuated after a night of REM disruption without changes in psychomotor vigilance. Furthermore, the improvement in maze completion time significantly positively correlated with the mean REM run duration across both sleep conditions. In conclusion, we demonstrate a novel role for REM sleep in human memory formation and highlight a significant cognitive consequence of OSA.
PMID: 25355211 [PubMed]
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25355211

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