Using CPAP for 1 Night Does Not Improve Memory in OSA
Individuals with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) should not expect their memory to improve after 1 night of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) use, according to new research from SLEEP 2019. The authors of the study say this may be due to the initial challenge of adjusting to CPAP use.
In order to evaluate the effect a single night of CPAP use has on memory consolidation for both future-relevant and future-irrelevant memories in individuals with OSA, the researchers examined data on patients with OSA who were treatment-naïve and on patients who were receiving their first night of CPAP treatment.
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Before going to sleep, the study participants completed 2 study/test cycles of an object-location memory task and measured their confidence in their performance. The participants were then informed that they would be compensated more if their memories from the reward-relevant category in which they were tested improved overnight.
During their sleep, participants were monitored with polysomnography.
After they awoke, the participants again completed the test phase of the memory task. The researchers determined that participants, regardless of whether they used CPAP, had more accurate memory during tests at night than in the morning. Participants in both groups reported a decrease in memory confidence between the 2 tests.
While the retention of reward-irrelevant items was more successful compared with the retention of reward-relevant items, participants who did not use CPAP had a more significant decrease in retention for reward-irrelevant items than reward-relevant items.
“The instruction regarding future relevance was more effective in the no-CPAP group, suggesting that consolidation may have been less disrupted in the no-CPAP group than in the CPAP group,” the researchers concluded.
—Colleen Murphy
Reference:
Johnson ML, Marshall SG, Kelemen WL, Westerberg CE. The effects of a single night of continuous positive airway pressure on memory in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Sleep. 2019;42(Supplement 1):A33. https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsz067.078.