Cognitive Impairment and Depressive Symptoms in a Patient With Obstructive Sleep Apnea: Full Recovery After CPAP Treatment

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSA) is associated with neuropsychiatric symptoms, including cognitive impairment and depression. It is important to be aware of this association since these comorbid symptoms may be misdiagnosed as a primary psychiatric condition. We report a case of a 60-year-old man with depressive symptoms and cognitive impairment, with important deficits in memory and great functional impairment. There was no response to many antidepressant trials and, later, he underwent polysomnography and was diagnosed with severe OSA. The patient started treatment with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) and showed progressive improvement in depressive and cognitive symptoms. During one year of follow-up, there was no recurrence of psychiatric symptoms and the patient was able to stop antidepressants and to recover his functionality. This case highlights the importance of searching for OSA signals when assessing patients with depressive and cognitive symptoms, since they may improve with OSA adequate treatment.