Patients affected by the sleep condition find it hard to get a good night sleep because their airways narrow or even get obstructed during their sleep.
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Researchers have recently found that some people who suffer from the symptoms of depression might actually be suffering from obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).
He said that the findings show how sleep apnea, a severely underdiagnosed condition, can easily be misdiagnosed as depression.
For the study, they looked at 243 men and 183 women who were suspected of suffering from sleep apnea. After therapy, the study found that only 4% of the sleep apnea patients who underwent therapy still showed signs of clinical depression. Almost 300 patients were diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and were prescribed continuous positive airway pressure therapy.
Study participants kept the masks on for at least five hours every night for a three-month period. Almost 40 percent of people who suffer from RLS reported having symptoms of depression, which would likely be diagnosed as such if they weren’t already seeking treatment for a sleeping disorder.
One of the biggest ways depression can affect sleep is making it impossible – insomnia plagues many depressed people and keeps them from getting the rest they need. Clinicians should ask such patients about disrupted sleep, breathing pauses, snoring, excessive daytime sleepiness and any other symptoms of sleep apnea, according to the team.
About 290 patients that had a full fledged diagnosis of sleep apnea were asked to use CPAP at night.
Researchers said that larger studies must be performed before determining if the CPAP is a reliable treatment for depression.
The effective treatment of OSA resulted in improvements in depressive symptoms as per David Hillman, the senior author. The researchers also noticed that the intensity of depressive symptoms kept on growing independently and consistently as the severity of sleep apnea increased.
Sleep apnea is a potentially serious sleep disorder in which breathing repeatedly stops and starts.
Doctors say that sleep apnea needs to be treated because chronic deprivation of oxygen can lead to life-threatening conditions including heart disease, stroke, and high blood pressure.
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Medical experts at the University of Western Australia have many reasons to believe there is a strong connection between sleep apnea and depression. After that time, the participants were re-evaluated for symptoms of depression using the same questionnaire. Powerful, pressurized air then flows through the machine and into the nasal airways.
