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Oxygen desaturation during night sleep affects decision‐making in patients with obstructive sleep apnea
Author(s) -
Delazer Margarete,
Zamarian Laura,
Frauscher Birgit,
Mitterling Thomas,
Stefani Ambra,
Heidbreder Anna,
Högl Birgit
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.12396
Subject(s) - obstructive sleep apnea , sleep (system call) , medicine , apnea , anesthesia , sleep apnea , cardiology , computer science , operating system
Summary This study assessed decision‐making and its associations with executive functions and sleep‐related factors in patients with obstructive sleep apnea. Thirty patients with untreated obstructive sleep apnea and 20 healthy age‐ and education‐matched controls performed the Iowa Gambling Task, a decision‐making task under initial ambiguity, as well as an extensive neuropsychological test battery. Patients, but not controls, also underwent a detailed polysomnographic assessment. Results of group analyses showed that patients performed at the same level of controls on the Iowa Gambling Task. However, the proportion of risky performers was significantly higher in the patient group than in the control group. Decision‐making did not correlate with executive functions and subjective ratings of sleepiness, whereas there was a significant positive correlation between advantageous performance on the Iowa Gambling Task and percentage of N2 sleep, minimal oxygen saturation, average oxygen saturation and time spent below 90% oxygen saturation level. Also, the minimal oxygen saturation accounted for 27% of variance in decision‐making. In conclusion, this study shows that a subgroup of patients with obstructive sleep apnea may be at risk of disadvantageous decision‐making under ambiguity. Among the sleep‐related factors, oxygen saturation is a significant predictor of advantageous decision‐making.