Medicina (Oct 2022)

CPAP Therapy on Depressive and Anxiety Symptoms in Patients with Moderate to Severe Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome

  • Diana Raluca Velescu,
  • Monica Marc,
  • Diana Manolescu,
  • Daniel Trăilă,
  • Cristian Oancea

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3390/medicina58101402
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 58, no. 10
p. 1402

Abstract

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Backgrounds and Objectives: There is a link between sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) and depressive and anxiety symptoms, but the underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of these symptoms in patients with OSA and to evaluate the impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on depression and anxiety scores. Materials and Methods: Ninety-nine consecutive new patients diagnosed with moderate or severe (apnea-hypopnea index AHI ≥ 15 events/h) OSA were accepted for the CPAP therapy. Patients completed a patient health questionnaire (PHQ-9) for depressive symptoms and a generalized anxiety questionnaire (GAD-7) for anxiety symptoms before the CPAP treatment, after 6 months, and after 1 year of CPAP therapy with compliance. For both scores (PHQ-9 and GAD-7), a cut point ≥10 was used to indicate the presence of clinically depressive and anxiety symptoms. Results: Forty-eight individuals (48.48%) had PHQ-9 scores above the cut-off point ≥ 10, and twenty-seven participants (27.27%) had GAD-7 scores above the cut-off point ≥10. A significant correlation has been shown between PHQ-9 score and BMI (p p p p p p p p p Conclusions: OSA patients should be screened for depression and anxiety. Furthermore, CPAP should be the first choice of treatment before starting other treatments for depression and anxiety symptoms.

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