Regular golfers often have a handicap - a measure of their golfing ability. This allows them to play against other players of different skill levels. The lower the handicap, the better the golfer. This study assessed whether CPAP improved golf handicaps in regular golfers with at least moderate obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The study authors included golfers without OSA as a control group. Compliance with CPAP was monitored digitally from the CPAP machine itself.
The results showed that the control group did not improve their handicap scores, but the CPAP user group did. The improvement was more dramatic with the better golfers (Handicap < 12). Of note, the golfers were very compliant with their CPAP use - using them for 6.3 hrs per night for 91% of nights.
The authors concluded that the handicap scores improved due to regular CPAP use. They theorized that CPAP use can improve cognitive functioning, and this was what improved golf performance.
The authors note that getting patients to use CPAP is a challenge - perhaps this study will give some OSA patients motivation to use their CPAP.
Showing posts with label neurocognitive function. Show all posts
Showing posts with label neurocognitive function. Show all posts
Thursday, December 26, 2013
Thursday, March 10, 2011
Obstructive Sleep Apnea and Neurocognitive Performance
In the March edition of the Sleep Journal is an article featuring a cross-sectional analysis to see if patients with untreated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have impairments in attention, learning, memory, and ability to follow through on tasks (referred collectively as neurocognitive function). The patients are from a large study to determine if 6 months of CPAP use improves neurocognitive functioning in OSA patients.
There are studies that show that OSA is associated with neurocognitive deficits. The results from this study, however, show that the associations between OSA severity, objectively determined sleep quality, and sleep duration, and neurocognitive function are weak and inconsistent. When there was neurocognitive impairment, it was associated with severe oxygen desaturations, regardless of OSA severity.
The study authors noted that participants were more educated than the U.S. population, with 15.5 years of education on average. Perhaps because they were more educated, the study participants started out with higher intelligence than the average U.S. population. Apparently, there is evidence that patients with higher intelligence are more resistant to adverse neurocognitive effects from untreated OSA.
The point of all this is that this study did not show that neurocognitive deficits are associated with OSA (regardless of the severity) by itself. The finding that was associated was low oxygen levels (<85%) which can occur in conditions other than OSA like COPD. These results fly in the face of my clinical experience - that patients with broken up sleep from OSA (even without low oxygen levels) have trouble concentrating and don't feel as sharp. After they start CPAP, they can function better.
There are studies that show that OSA is associated with neurocognitive deficits. The results from this study, however, show that the associations between OSA severity, objectively determined sleep quality, and sleep duration, and neurocognitive function are weak and inconsistent. When there was neurocognitive impairment, it was associated with severe oxygen desaturations, regardless of OSA severity.
The study authors noted that participants were more educated than the U.S. population, with 15.5 years of education on average. Perhaps because they were more educated, the study participants started out with higher intelligence than the average U.S. population. Apparently, there is evidence that patients with higher intelligence are more resistant to adverse neurocognitive effects from untreated OSA.
The point of all this is that this study did not show that neurocognitive deficits are associated with OSA (regardless of the severity) by itself. The finding that was associated was low oxygen levels (<85%) which can occur in conditions other than OSA like COPD. These results fly in the face of my clinical experience - that patients with broken up sleep from OSA (even without low oxygen levels) have trouble concentrating and don't feel as sharp. After they start CPAP, they can function better.
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