A case-control study on psychological symptoms in sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome

To investigate the psychological status of patients with sleep apnea-hypopnea syndrome (SAHS) and to evaluate the association of SAHS with psychological symptoms, using the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) scale.

The study comprised 30 SAHS patients (25 men, 5 women) and 30 matched, healthy control subjects. They all completed the SCL-90 and the Epworth Sleep Scale (ESS) and underwent a whole-night polysomnographic (PSG) examination. We used t-tests for group comparisons of nocturnal PSG characteristics, daytime sleepiness, and psychological symptoms. We employed Spearman's rank correlation analysis to indicate the effects of several nocturnal PSG variables (for example, total sleep time, percentage of wake at sleep, Apnea and Hypopnea Index [AHI], and oxygen desaturation) or subjective daytime sleepiness on psychological symptoms in SAHS.

SAHS patients suffered from fragmented sleep and decreased arterial oxygen saturations, compared with healthy control subjects. The General Severity Index (GSI) of SCL-90 was significantly higher in SAHS patients than in healthy control subjects, as were measures of somatization, obsession-compulsion, depression, anxiety, and hostility (P < 0.05). The severity of psychological symptoms in SAHS patients was negatively related to total sleep time and percentage of stage 2 nonrapid eye movement (NREM) sleep; it was positively related to percentage of wake time after sleep onset, percentage of stage 1 NREM sleep, and ESS scores.

In our study population, SAHS patients had decreased psychological well-being, which could be explained by fragmented sleep or excessive daytime sleepiness.