THE RISK OF DEVELOPING COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN PATIENTS WITH OBSTRUCTIVE SLEEP APNEA
It is considered that cognitive impairment refers to frequent disorders in elderly and senile age. This research shows that not only age and aging processes can negatively affect cognitive functions, but there is a comorbid relationship between" forgetfulness", reducing their own requirements for everyday skills, such as memory, recognition of familiar faces, the ability to cope with typical problems and breathing disorders in sleep. We present a pilot study of cognitive impairment in patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome in the amount of 31 people with an average age of 51.3 ± 5.2 years with severe respiratory distress (index apnea / hypopnea) > 30. The control group consisted of 11 patients without sleep breathing disorders (apnea/ hypopnea index less than 5). The criterion for inclusion in the study was the presence of complaints of memory disorder, decreased concentration, absent-mindedness, a sense of reduced tolerance to mental stress, understood by us as the equivalent of cognitive impairment. Exclusion criteria were the presence of severe motor, sensory, speech disturbances. Violation of higher brain functions in obstructive sleep apnea syndrome was detected in 91% of cases, which indicates a significant increase in the risk of cognitive impairment in people in adulthood in the presence of this disease. The structure of disorders revealed a significant number of mild cognitive impairment (68%) and small - expressed cognitive impairment (3%), which may be due to small start dates of respiratory disorders in sleep in subjects and their potential reversibility. Essential factors for a disturbance of higher cerebral functions in OSAS can be considered as the chronic intermittent hypoxemia and fragmentation of sleep. The obtained results substantiate the further study of the correlation between the timing of the manifestation of SOAS and cognitive disorders, as well as the results of the cognitive function of patients with respiratory disorders in sleep after sipap therapy.