Psychiatric comorbidity research in patients who are diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome

OSAS is disease characterized with recurrent upper airway collapse during sleep. Prevalence of disease in general population %2 among women, % 4 among men. Division of sleep and recurrent hypoxemia related to OSAS increases risk of excessive lethargy during day and motor vehicle accidents. Besides concentration defect, memory loss, depression, psychosis, decrease in libido and impotance are frequently seen neurocognitive disorders.It is not yet clearly understood weather OSAS causes mental changes or psychiatric abnormalities. OSAS is a disease that disturbs sleeping quality, thus daytime functionality. Psychiatric diseases also greatly effect sleep and lead to daytime cognitive and functional errors. Symptoms rising from disturbed sleeping quality in OSAS resembles some symptoms of psychiatric disorders, also OSAS clinic and psychiatric disorders clinic overlaps. Togetherness of these two diseases can more damage functionality, make treatment more difficult. Cause of symptoms overlap one disease may be obscuring the other and if not investigated sufficiently this situation may lead to deficiency in diagnosis. In fact if this two situation with different treatment is present at the same time must be evaluated and treated separately. If missed, treatment success may decrease and patient?s accordance and trust to treatment may damage.The aim of this study is to determine weather patients diagnosed as OSAS has psychiatric disease, to investigate the differences of OSAS severity if it is together with psychiatric diseases and according to the results maintain anamnesis deepness, to develop an opinion about differential diagnosis, so to rise treatment quality.Between February 2012 and March 2012 patient administered to Pulmonary Disease Polyclinics and Ear Nose Throat Polyclinics with symptoms of one or more snoring, daytime excessive sleepiness, apnea symptoms told by relatives and diagnosed OSAS with PSG, administered SCID-I Psychiatric Screening Test, older than 18 years old 102 patients (32 women, 70 men) were included in the study. A questionnaire which investigates demographic characteristics by 26 questions have been applied.For statistical analysis, between group comparison independent sample T-test and Chi-square test were used. Mean were given as mean ? standard deviation. Result with p ? 0.05 were accepted as statistically significant.In our study it is been determined OSAS patients has increased frequency of psychiatric comorbidity. Between OSAS degree and anxiety disorders demonstrated negative correlation and MD positive correlation.As a result of excessive perception of patients diagnosed anxiety disorder and somatization disorder, it is possible that they have been diagnosed thanks to perception susceptibility in mild and middle OSAS findings. As a result of decreased sleeping quality, affection of cognitive functions deeply may mimic MD symptoms and therefore severe OSAS patients had been diagnosed as MD. This situation may mean false positivity. To determine this, it is appropriate to recall patients for control certain time later for MD diagnosis who has OSAS treatment and wait for further stages of OSAS treatment for MD treatment.