Takeaway
- Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is associated with double the risk for affective disorders, according to a nationally representative Korean cohort.
- Women with OSA have higher affective disorder risks than men with OSA.
Why this matters
- Consider screening patients with OSA for affective disorders such as depression and anxiety, bearing in mind that this study needs replication.
Study design
- Prospective, nationally representative cohort of 197 patients with OSA and 788 propensity-matched control individuals without OSA from the Korea National Health Insurance Service. Participants were drawn from a database of >1 million people.
- A history of depression or anxiety was excluded.
- Primary outcome: cumulative incidence of affective disorders.
- Funding: Korea Health Industry Development Institute; others.
Key results
- The OSA group, during a 9-year follow-up period, had higher cumulative incidence than control individuals of affective disorders (49.57 vs 27.18 per 1000 person-years, respectively); the adjusted HR was 2.04 (95% CI, 1.53-2.70).
- Subgroup analysis for depression yielded adjusted HR, 2.90 (95% CI, 1.98-4.24).
- Subgroup analysis for anxiety yielded adjusted HR, 1.75 (95% CI, 1.26-2.44).
- Female patients with OSA had higher risk for depression than men with OSA (adjusted HR, 3.97 [95% CI, 1.54-10.19] vs adjusted HR, 2.74 [95% CI, 1.80-4.17]) and anxiety (adjusted HR, 2.42 [95% CI, 1.17-5.02] vs adjusted HR, 1.64 [95% CI, 1.13-2.39]).
Limitation
- OSA treatment compliance data unavailable.
References
References
