title: Impaired sustained attention and lapses are present in patients with mild obstructive sleep apnea.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) directly affects the quality of life, mood, and sustained attention of individuals, but it has not yet been established in the literature, if these changes also affect patients with mild OSA. The purpose of this study was to investigate such negative effects on the parameters described above.
  
  
  METHODS
  A controlled study was held at the Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo, Department of Psychobiology. Thirty-nine mild OSA patients and 25 controls were included. Volunteers could be of both genders with body mass index (BMI) ≤35 kg/m(2) and age between 18 and 65 years. Both groups were subjected to full-night polysomnography (PSG), the subjective assessment of mood (Beck Inventory of Anxiety and Depression), Functional Outcomes of Sleep Questionnaire (FOSQ), and the psychomotor vigilance task (PVT) five times during the day. We considered mild OSA patients those with apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) score between 5 and 15. The control group included subjects with AHI scores <5, respiratory disturbance index (RDI) scores ≤5, arousal index values ≤15, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS) values ≤9.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mild OSA patients were older and more obese than the controls. After adjusting for age, BMI, and schooling years, there was an increased number of total lapses (3.90 ± 4.16 and 2.43 ± 5.55, p = 0.004).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Patients with mild OSA showed increased sustained attention lapses compared with normal subjects.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina, Disciplina de Pneumologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil. gabriela.luz@unifesp.br.
authors.forename: Gabriela Pontes
authors.initials: GP
authors.lastname: Luz
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Thais Moura
authors.initials: TM
authors.lastname: Guimarães
authors.affiliation: Center for Narcolepsy, Sleep and Health Research, College of Nursing, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA.
authors.forename: Terri E
authors.initials: TE
authors.lastname: Weaver
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina, Disciplina de Pneumologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luiz E
authors.initials: LE
authors.lastname: Nery
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana Oliveira
authors.initials: LO
authors.lastname: E Silva
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Medicina, Disciplina de Pneumologia, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Luciana
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Badke
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Glaury
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Coelho
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Aline
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Millani-Carneiro
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Sergio
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Tufik
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Psicobiologia, Disciplina de Medicina e Biologia do Sono, Universidade Federal de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.
authors.forename: Lia
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bittencourt
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000503:physiopathology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D011788:Quality of Life; D012016:Reference Values; D020181:Sleep Apnea, Obstructive / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology
keywords: Anxiety; Depression; Mild obstructive sleep apnea; Psychomotor vigilance task; Quality of life