Comparison on cognition between REM- and NREM-related obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1009-6574.2015.04.004

Abstract：Objective To evaluate cognitive impairment of REM -related obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (REM -OSAS) and NREM -related obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (NREM -OSAS) pa‐tients .Methods Totals of 206 consecutive suspected OSAS patients who underwent overnight polysom‐nogram were involved .On the night of undergoing PSG ,all the participants complete Mini -mental State Examination (MMSE) ,Clock Drawing Test (CDT ) ,Verbal Fluency Test (VFT ) ,Digit Span Test (DST) ,et al .All participants were classified as simple snoring group and OSAS group after over‐night polysomnogram .Then ,OSAS patients were classified as REM -OSAS and NREM -OSAS to compare the performance of cognition .Results According to inclusive and exclusive criterion ,161 pa‐tients were involved finally .There were simple snoring patients (n= 41) and OSAS patients (n= 120) which included REM -OSAS patients(n= 36)and NREM -OSAS patients (n = 84) .Compared with simple snoring group ,performance on CDT ,VFT ,DST (the order and reversal order) ,trail making test (A、B) ,symbol digit modalities test (SDMT) ,vigilance task (VT) were impaired significantly in OSAS group (P < 0 .05) .There was no significant difference between the two groups in the score of MMSE (P > 0 .05) .Compared with NREM -OSAS group ,the performance on TMT [A :(68 .62 ± 36.97) vs (83 .78 ± 38 .60);B:(74 .06 ± 37 .58) vs (88 .72 ± 36 .24)] ,SDMT[(39 .96 ± 14 .11) vs (32 .92 ± 10 .06)]were poor and the performance of DST[the order:(10 .83 ± 2 .73) vs (12 .03 ± 2 .62)]was good in the REM -OSAS group (P< 0 .05) .Conclusions Related to simple snoring patients ,OSAS patients have various cognitive impairment ,such as executive ,verbal fluency ,attention ,instant memory ,visual spatial function ,generally learning ability and vigilance .Visual spatial function and generally learning ability of REM -OSAS patients are impaired seriously;attention of NREM -OSAS patients is impaired seriously .