Obstructive sleep apnea is a very common disease in general population (24% males; 9% females), characterized by frequent partial or total upper-airway collapse, intermittent hypoxia, arousal from sleep, change in blood pressure, excessive daytime sleepiness, cardiovascular and metabolic diseases, psychological and cognitive consequences. The gold standard treatment is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), but the adherence is often poor. Poor therapy adherence might be partially explained by executive deficits, decreasing the ability to plan and pursue longsighted behaviors entailing immediate costs/efforts. We investigate the cognitive function, in particular effort based-decision making and the relationship with excessive daytime somnolence and other cognitive function in a group of OSA patients and in control group. We assess cognitive function in OSA patients at the diagnosis moment and after six months of CPAP use.
Obstructive sleep apnoea is the most common sleep disorder in general population, and is often associated with cognitive deficit, mood disorders, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, excessive daytime somnolence, nicturia and an increased cardiovascular and metabolic risk. The gold standard of treatment is Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP), but the adherence is often poor. The aim of our study is to investigate the effort based-decision making in patients with OSA, pre and post CPAP treatment, as a possible cause of poor adherence.