Coexisting Depression and Sleep Apnea Increase risk of CV related morbidity and all cause mortality

A total of 4918 participants, 656 (13.3%) with obstructive sleep apnea (obstructive sleep apnea group), 1614 (32.8%) with depression (depression group), 482 (9.8%) with depression and obstructive sleep apnea (depression and obstructive sleep apnea group), and 2166 (44%) with neither obstructive sleep apnea nor depression (health group), were included.

Results:

The incidence of cardiovascular disease was 24.5%, 31.0%, 31.6% and 41.7% for healthy, depression, obstructive sleep apnea, and depression and obstructive sleep apnea groups, respectively.

The risk of cardiovascular disease in depression and obstructive sleep apnea participants was increased compared with that in healthy participants, which was consistent across various definitions of obstructive sleep apnea for apnea–hypopnea index ≥ 10 per hr, 15 per hr, 20 per hr, 30 per hr, respectively).

The risk of all-cause mortality was increased in the depression and obstructive sleep apnea participants compared with that in healthy participants when the definition of obstructive sleep apnea was apnea–hypopnea index ≥ 30.

Participants with depression and obstructive sleep apnea might be at a greater risk of cardiovascular disease, and those with higher apnea–hypopnea index might be at a greater risk of all-cause mortality.

Reference:

Liu, H., Peng, W., Zhou, L., Shen, Y., Xu, B., Xie, J., Cai, T., Zhou, J., & Li, C. (2023). Depression with obstructive sleep apnea lead to high cardiovascular disease morbidity/all-cause mortality: Findings from the SHHS cohort. Journal of Sleep Research, e13828. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.13828