Is OSA Linked to Hospitalization for Depression?

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is not associated with hospitalized depression, according to a recent diagnostic sleep study.

To conduct their study, researchers evaluated all adults with suspected OSA who had underwent a diagnostic sleep study between 1994 and 2010 at a large urban academic hospital. Participants were also included if they were linked to provincial health administrative data between 1991 and 2015.

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The researchers used Cox regression analysis to assess the link between OSA symptoms and severity and incident hospitalized depression.

Overall, 136 of 10,149 participants (1.3%) were hospitalized for depression over a median follow-up of 9.7 years. Those who were female, younger in age, using hypnotics, suffering from alcoholism, and unemployed were more likely to be hospitalized with depression.

After controlling for confounders, a significant crude effect of OSA symptoms, including waking unrefreshed and impact on memory and concentration, on hospitalized depression became nonsignificant. They also found that apnea-hypopnea index was not significantly associated with the outcome.

“In a large clinical cohort with suspected OSA, controlling for confounders, OSA symptoms and severity were not related to the risk of hospitalisation for depression, suggesting that previously reported links between OSA and depression may be due to overlapping diagnostic criteria. However, our findings cannot exclude a potential link between OSA and milder depression,” the researchers concluded.

—Christina Vogt

Reference:

Kendzerska T, Gershon AS, Hawker GA, Tomlinson GA, Leung RS. Obstructive sleep apnoea is not a risk factor for incident hospitalised depression: a historical cohort study. Eur Respir J. 2017;49(6). doi: 10.1183/13993003.01361-2016.