Background: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) may be associated with cognitive impairment (CI). The goal of this study was to evaluate the impact of risk factors and continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) on a screening tool for cognitive function.
Methods: The Mail-In Cognitive Function Screening Instrument (MCFSI) is a self-administered test designed to identify CI in the Alzheimer's Disease Cooperative Study. It was administered to 88 consecutive patients with OSAS attending the Medical University of South Carolina Sleep Clinic. An MCFSI score ≥5 was considered abnormal.
Results: Data were analyzed on 61 patients after excluding missing and duplicate data. The MCFSI score was abnormal in 15 patients (25%). African Americans were more likely to be CPAP-noncompliant. Female gender and smoking were associated with abnormal MCFSI scores. CPAP-compliant patients were more likely to have normal MCFSI scores, although the difference was not statistically significant (P = 0.06).
Conclusions: CPAP-compliant patients showed a trend toward lower MCFSI scores. There may be gender and racial differences in CI related to OSAS, predisposing certain groups to worse morbidity. Appropriate treatment and compliance with CPAP could improve CI in OSAS. Larger studies with multivariate analyses are needed to identify relationships between individual OSAS and CI risk factors.