Management of obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome in neurocognitive disorders

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea/hypopnea syndrome (OSAHS) has important implications in afflicted patients’ overall management from critical care units to outpatient clinics. This clinical review addresses up-to-date recommendations from professional organizations, such as the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, and puts management in context of patients with comorbid neurocognitive disorders (such as vascular or Alzheimer’s dementia). For example, recent studies have found a potential bidirectional relationship between the disease process OSAHS and neurocognitive disorders or other psychiatric disorders found in older people. It is important to consider possible general medical and psychiatric contributors to severity of OSAHS, particularly in geriatric patients.

Keywords: Sleep apnea, obstructive; neurocognitive disorders; Alzheimer disease; depressive disorder, major