Relationship of obstructive sleep apnea with major depressive disorder and development of metabolic syndrome

Major depressive disorder (MDD) is often linked with a number of coexisting disorders with a relation that is poorly understood. The aim of this study was to find out the role of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) in metabolic syndrome (MS) in subjects with MDD and to develop a model for factors leading to MS.

It was a cross-sectional study conducted on 119 subjects. They were evaluated on sociodemographic and clinical parameters, Berlin questionnaire, and Quick Inventory of Depressive Symptomatology. Comparisons were made using appropriate statistics. Binary logistic regression was used to find out the role of clinical parameters in the development of MS.

A total of 34% with MDD had a high risk of developing OSA while 19% had metabolic syndrome. Among all clinical variables, antidepressant exposure in terms of total fluoxetine units, duration of treatment, and risk of developing OSA was found to be significantly more in patients with MS. A higher risk of OSA was found to have a higher likelihood to cause MS in patients with MDD.

There is a high risk of MS and OSA in subjects with MDD. The increased risk of MS is contributed by an increased risk of developing OSA among patients with MDD. Cross-sectional design and limited generalizability are the major limitations of this study.