Environmental and sociodemographic factors associated with cognitive functions in patients with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)

The importance of sociodemographic factors in the evaluation of sleep apnea has been presented recently in a pediatric population. Objective:to evaluate the impact of those factors on cognition of adult patients with OSA. Methods: A total of 39 patients were recruited. Environmental factors (dwelling and light/dark cycle) and sociodemographic factors were correlated with polysomnography (PSG), brain imaging (MRI) and psychological tests. Results:77% of the patients were highlanders (HL: dwelling above 2000 m asl) and presented a higher frequency of cerebrovascular changes (43%) in contrast with lowlanders (22%). Data as mean±SEM. Differences in Paced Auditory Serial Addition (PASAT) 3 min (HL: 9±1, LL:4±2) were significant (p