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Prevalence of depression in patients referred with snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea
Author(s) -
Douglas N.,
Young A.,
Roebuck T.,
Ho S.,
Miller B. R.,
Kee K.,
Dabscheck E. J.,
Naughton M. T.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
internal medicine journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.596
H-Index - 70
eISSN - 1445-5994
pISSN - 1444-0903
DOI - 10.1111/imj.12108
Subject(s) - medicine , depression (economics) , depressive symptoms , physical therapy , sleep (system call) , pediatrics , psychiatry , anxiety , computer science , economics , macroeconomics , operating system
Background and Aims Depression and obstructive sleep apnoea are two common entities, with common symptoms that make identification of either condition difficult. Our aim was to examine, within a group of patients referred with snoring and obstructive sleep apnoea, (i) the prevalence of depression with the 14‐question H ospital A nxiety and D epression S cale ( HADS ), (ii) the correlation between the two lead depression symptoms from the M ini‐ I nternational N europsychiatric I nterview ( MINI ) and HADS , and (iii) the relationship between depression symptoms with physiological markers of OSA . Methods An observational study of depression questionnaires in patients referred because of snoring to a sleep clinic within university‐affiliated public teaching hospital. Results Ninety‐seven per cent of 240 patients approached responded, and 32% had a positive HADS (score >16/42). The HADS and MINI significantly correlated ( r = 0.736, P < 0.001). Fifty‐three per cent had either doctor‐diagnosed depression (28%) and/or a positive HADS or MINI (25%). HADS correlated with the degree of sleepiness ( r = 0.252, P < 0.0001) and inversely with hypoxaemia ( r =‐0.231, P < 0.0003) but not with the frequency of apnoeas and hypopnoeas ( r = 0.116, P > 0.05). Conclusion Depending on classification, 32–53% of patients with snoring had depressive symptoms or were on treatment, which is significantly greater than the A ustralian average of 21%. A simplified depression questionnaire was validated. Severity of depression correlated with sleepiness and hypoxaemia but not with severity of sleep apnoea.