Does sleep apnoea cause memory deficits?
Clinical consequences of obstructive sleep apnoea include daytime sleepiness and cognitive dysfunction. We have recently demonstrated that patients with sleep apnoea have deficits in verbal episodic memory. That may be related to changes in brain structure.
Initial findings suggest that sleep disordered breathing is associated with focal loss of grey matter in the cerebellum; the functional correlates could include both motor dysfunction and working memory deficits. Thus improvement in sleep quality and oxygenation could potentially reduce the burden of disease in older people, and may arrest accelerated cognitive decline
It is unclear if the structural and functional neural deficits associated with sleep apnoea are caused by sleep fragmentation or hypoxia. This is a major focus of research for our group in collaboration with Dr D Corfield (Keele University).
References
- Morrell MJ, Jackson ML, Twigg GL et al. Changes in brain morphology in patients with obstructive sleep apnoea. Thorax Sept 2010 in pres
- Twigg GL, Papaioannou I, Jackson M, Ghiassi R, Shaikh Z, Jaye J, Graham KS, Simonds AK, Morrell MJ. Obstructive Sleep Apnoea Syndrome is Associated with Deficits in Verbal but not Visual Memory. Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2010 Mar 18
- Morrell MJ, McRobbie DW, Quest RA, Cummin ARC, Ghiassi R, Corfield DR. Changes in brain morphology associated with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep Medicine 4 (2003) 451–454
