Symptom subtypes and cognitive function in a clinic-based OSA cohort: a multi-centre Canadian study

Area of Science:

• Sleep Medicine
• Neuropsychology
• Clinical Research

Background:

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) presents with diverse symptom presentations.
• The relationship between OSA symptom subtypes and neurocognitive deficits remains incompletely understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and characterize OSA symptom subtypes within a Canadian patient cohort.
• To investigate the association between these identified subtypes and objective neurocognitive performance.

Main Methods:

• Latent class analysis was employed to identify symptom subtypes in patients with suspected OSA.
• Neurocognitive function was assessed using standardized tests including the MoCA, RAVLT, WAIS-IV, and DSC.
• Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to evaluate differences in neurocognitive outcomes among subtypes, controlling for covariates.

Main Results:

• Four distinct OSA symptom subtypes were identified: Excessively Sleepy, Disturbed Sleep, Minimally Symptomatic, and a novel subtype, Excessively Sleepy with Disturbed Sleep.
• Statistically significant differences were observed in Digit-Symbol Coding (DSC) scores among the subtypes and compared to non-OSA patients.
• The Minimally Symptomatic subtype demonstrated higher DSC scores compared to other OSA subtypes and non-OSA individuals.

Conclusions:

• The findings confirm the presence of previously recognized OSA symptom subtypes in a Canadian clinical population.
• A consistent association between OSA symptom subtypes and neurocognitive function was not established across all tested cognitive domains.