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. 2021 Jan 12;4(1):e228.
doi: 10.1002/hsr2.228. eCollection 2021 Mar.

Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea at an outpatient memory clinic

Britt Linssen  1 , Esther Bergman  2 , Pim Klarenbeek  1 , Erik Hoff  1
Affiliations

Prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea at an outpatient memory clinic

Britt Linssen et al. Health Sci Rep. .

Abstract

Objectives: Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a common sleep disorder that has several health hazards, including cognitive dysfunction. Studies have thus far primarily focussed on the prevalence of cognitive impairment in patients diagnosed with OSA at sleep clinics. The present study aims to investigate the prevalence of OSA at an outpatient memory clinic.

Methods: A dataset of patients who visited our memory clinic in the period from June 2015 to September 2019 was retrospectively examined for the presence of OSA. The primary outcome measure was the prevalence of OSA, subdivided into three cognitive syndrome diagnosis groups: subjective cognitive complaints (SCC), mild cognitive impairment and dementia. Secondary outcome measures included age, education level, body mass index, substance use, depression and OSA criteria.

Results: Of the 885 patients included in this study, 153 patients had already been or were diagnosed with OSA (17.3%). The percentage of OSA in the SCC group was significantly higher compared with the dementia group (26.7% vs 8.0%; OR 3.83 [95%CI 2.43-5.99]). Age differed significantly between the SCC group and the dementia group: 63.5 vs 71.5 years (7.6 ± 1.810; P < .001). Higher education level was associated with a lower prevalence of dementia compared to SCC (OR 0.068[95%CI 0.008-0.588]). Severity parameters of OSA did not show significant differences across the various cognitive syndrome diagnosis groups.

Conclusions: Prevalence of OSA at our outpatient memory clinic is generally high. Especially in patients with SCC. We would therefore advocate screening for OSA at memory clinics.

Keywords: OSA; cognition; prevalence; subjective cognitive complaints.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Percentage of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) by cognitive syndrome diagnoses. This figure shows the prevalence of obstructive sleep apnea in the total population of the memory clinic subdivided into the three cognitive syndrome diagnoses groups: subjective cognitive complaints (26.7%), mild cognitive impairment (13.8%) and dementia (8.0%)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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