About a quarter of patients with obstructive sleep apnea also had clinical depression and used antidepressants, recent research has shown.
Although patients in the study associated their sleep disorder with poorer quality of life as well as symptoms of anxiety and depression, it is unclear whether treating their obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) would alleviate these symptoms, said Melinda L. Jackson, PhD, from Monash University in Clayton, Victoria, Australia, and her colleagues.
“OSA is a modifiable factor that, if treated, may reduce the economic, health care, and personal burden of depression,” Dr. Jackson and her colleagues wrote in their study, recently published in the journal Sleep Medicine. “Findings from the treatment phase of this study will help us determine whether clinical depression is alleviated with CPAP use, taking into account antidepressant use; whether there are subgroups of patients who respond better to treatment; and what are the characteristics of patients who respond compared to those who remain depressed.”
The researchers used baseline data from 109 patients in the CPAP for OSA and Depression trial who were diagnosed with OSA. Participants (mean age, 52.6 years; 43.1% female) consecutively presented to a sleep laboratory where they answered interview questions to assess clinical depression and sleep habits. Data were collected using the structured clinical interview for depression (SCID-IV), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ), Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and Assessment of Quality of Life questionnaire. In addition, the researchers performed a meta-analysis of seven studies, including the current study, to determine the prevalence of clinical depression among patients with untreated OSA.
Overall, SCID-IV scores identified clinical depression in 25 participants (22.7%), and these participants said they had greater sleep disturbance and reported higher depressive, anxiety and stress as well as lower quality of life as a result of their clinical depression. Researchers found these participants also had significantly worse quality of sleep (P less than .05) and daytime dysfunction (P less than .05) as identified by PSQI scores, while FOSQ results showed participants with clinical depression had significantly lower activity levels, social outcomes, and general productivity, compared with patients without clinical depression (P less than .05). In a meta-analysis, Dr. Jackson and her colleagues found a pooled prevalence of 23% for clinical depression among participants with OSA.
Participants using antidepressants were examined separately from participants who had clinical depression. The researchers found 27 participants (24.8%) using antidepressants who also had reported higher symptoms of anxiety, depression and stress, lower quality of life, and poorer sleep outcomes. Participants using antidepressants also were more likely to have bipolar disorder or a condition such as hypertension, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, high cholesterol, or type 2 diabetes, and 75% of these participants reported having some type of comorbid condition.
Dr. Jackson and her colleagues noted they were uncertain whether depression or OSA occurred first, or whether depression exacerbated symptoms of OSA through other factors such as weight gain, sleep disruption, inactivity, or alcohol use. Depression and OSA may also present independently of one another, they added.
“Development of scales to better capture information about when symptoms commenced and the length of time an individual has experienced OSA will provide a clearer understanding of the consequences of OSA on psychological and medical conditions,” the researchers said.
This study was funded by the Austin Medical Research Fund, and one authors reported support from an National Health and Medical Research Council Early Career Fellowship. The authors report no relevant conflicts of interest.
SOURCE: Jackson ML et al. Sleep Med. 2019 Mar 27. doi: 10.1016/j.sleep.2019.03.011.