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Updated: Jul 6, 2025
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Drug-Induced Sleep Endoscopy DISE with Target Controlled Infusion TCI and Bispectral Analysis in Obstructive Sleep Apnea
Published on: December 6, 2016
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General low alertness in people with obstructive sleep apnea
Márcio Luciano de Souza Bezerra1,2, Eelco van Duinkerken1,3, Eunice Simões1
1Universidade Federal do Estado do Rio de Janeiro (UNIRIO), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Summary
Patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) have a consistent attention deficit, specifically in alertness, which does not worsen over time. This finding highlights concerns for daily activities like driving.
Area of Science:
- Cognitive Neuroscience
- Sleep Medicine
- Psychology
Background:
- Previous research indicated attention deficits in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) using a Go/No-Go task.
- The temporal progression of these attention deficits in OSA patients remained unexplored.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate if attention deficits in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) patients worsen as a task progresses.
- To examine the impact of target frequency and stimulus presentation speed on performance in OSA patients.
Main Methods:
- A 15-minute Go/No-Go task was administered to 27 untreated OSA patients and 27 controls.
- The task involved varying interstimulus intervals (1, 2, 4 seconds) and target probabilities (20%, 80%) across 6 blocks.
- Measures included reaction time (alertness), reaction time variability (sustained attention), commission errors (response inhibition), and omission errors (focused attention).
Main Results:
- Patients with OSA exhibited significantly lower alertness, indicated by longer average reaction times compared to controls.
- This alertness deficit was present throughout the task and did not escalate with task progression.
- The observed alertness deficits in OSA were not influenced by target frequency or stimulus presentation speed.
Conclusions:
- The primary attention deficit in obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is in alertness, independent of response load or stimulus speed.
- These findings differentiate OSA from other conditions like depression or chronic pain.
- The persistent alertness deficit in OSA raises significant safety concerns for daily activities, such as driving.
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