The effects of breathing-related sleep disorders on mood disturbances in the general population.
BACKGROUND
Results of clinical studies suggest that there may be a relationship between breathing-related sleep disorders and depressive disorders. This study aims to assess the impact of breathing-related sleep disorder on major depressive disorder in the general population.


METHODS
A cross-sectional telephone survey was carried out between 1994 and 1999 in the general population of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. A total of 18,980 randomly selected subjects aged 15 to 100 years and representative of the general population of their respective countries participated in the study. The questionnaire included a series of questions about sleep quality, breathing-related sleep disorder symptoms, mental disorders, and medical conditions. Data are presented using point prevalence.


RESULTS
2.1% of the subjects were found with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome at the time of the interview, and 2.5% had some other type of DSM-IV breathing-related sleep disorder diagnosis. The association of DSM-IV breathing-related sleep disorder diagnosis and major depressive disorder diagnosis was found in 0.8% of the sample. As many as 18% of individuals with a major depressive disorder diagnosis also have a DSM-IV breathing-related sleep disorders diagnosis, and 17.6% of subjects with a DSM-IV breathing-related sleep disorders diagnosis have a major depressive disorder diagnosis. Multivariate models showed that even after controlling for obesity and hypertension, the odds of having a DSM-IV breathing-related sleep disorders diagnosis was 5.26 for individuals with a major depressive disorder diagnosis.


CONCLUSIONS
About 800 of 100,000 individuals have both a breathing-related sleep disorder and a major depressive disorder. The identification of 1 of these 2 disorders should prompt the investigation of the other disorder since nearly a fifth of them have the other disorder.
Ohayon
Maurice M
MM
Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center, School of Medicine, Stanford University, 3430 West Bayshore Road, Suite 102, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA. mohayon@stanford.edu
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003865:Major Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005060:Europe / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012307:Risk Factors; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*