Alleviating Depressive Symptoms Through Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy: Long-Term Effects on Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
- 1Division of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, Nihon University School of Medicine, TokyoJapan.
Abstract
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases the risk of physical and psychological comorbidities, including depression. Although the short-term impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on depressive symptoms is established, its long-term psychological impact beyond 2 years remains underexplored. To evaluate the impact of long-term CPAP therapy on depressive symptoms in patients with OSA, focusing on Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) subdomain changes, as well as the influence of demographic and clinical variables such as age and sex. We enrolled 170 patients with OSA who underwent polysomnography and received CPAP for ≥ 6 months at the Nihon University Itabashi Hospital Sleep Center. Depression severity was measured using the SDS, and subgroup analyses assessed associations between changes in SDS scores and clinical parameters (age, sex, CPAP adherence, and sleep-related indices). Total SDS scores significantly declined from 40.2 to 37.5 in patients using CPAP for ≥2 years. Improvement was most pronounced in the cognitive and behavioral subdomains (e.g., fatigue, motivation, and decision-making) and was statistically significant among male patients, whereas female patients showed a nonsignificant trend toward improvement. No significant associations were observed between baseline characteristics (e.g., age and comorbidities) and SDS score changes. Multivariate analysis confirmed these improvements were not solely attributable to a single subdomain. Long-term CPAP therapy was associated with modest improvements in depressive symptoms in patients with OSA, particularly in cognitive and behavioral domains. In exploratory analyses, benefits appeared more evident in males, but these findings should be interpreted with caution given the limited female sample size.
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BibTeX
@article{kozu2026alleviating,
title = {{Alleviating Depressive Symptoms Through Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy: Long-Term Effects on Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.}},
author = {Yutaka Kozu and Hisato Hiranuma and Yasunori Itoda and Yusuke Jinno and Shun Yokota and Shuichiro Maruoka and Yasuhiro Gon},
journal = {Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil)},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.1055/s-0046-1819597},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42997916},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Alleviating Depressive Symptoms Through Continuous Positive Airway Pressure Therapy: Long-Term Effects on Patients with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.
AU - Yutaka Kozu
AU - Hisato Hiranuma
AU - Yasunori Itoda
AU - Yusuke Jinno
AU - Shun Yokota
AU - Shuichiro Maruoka
AU - Yasuhiro Gon
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/01
JO - Sleep science (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
DO - 10.1055/s-0046-1819597
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42997916
AB - Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) increases the risk of physical and psychological comorbidities, including depression. Although the short-term impact of continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) therapy on depressive symptoms is established, its long-term psychological impact beyond 2 years remains underexplored. To evaluate the impact of long-term CPAP therapy on depressive symptoms in patients with OSA, focusing on Self-Rating Depression Scale (SDS) subdomain changes, as well as the influence of demographic and clinical variables such as age and sex. We enrolled 170 patients with OSA who underwent polysomnography and received CPAP for ≥ 6 months at the Nihon University Itabashi Hospital Sleep Center. Depression severity was measured using the SDS, and subgroup analyses assessed associations between changes in SDS scores and clinical parameters (age, sex, CPAP adherence, and sleep-related indices). Total SDS scores significantly declined from 40.2 to 37.5 in patients using CPAP for ≥2 years. Improvement was most pronounced in the cognitive and behavioral subdomains (e.g., fatigue, motivation, and decision-making) and was statistically significant among male patients, whereas female patients showed a nonsignificant trend toward improvement. No significant associations were observed between baseline characteristics (e.g., age and comorbidities) and SDS score changes. Multivariate analysis confirmed these improvements were not solely attributable to a single subdomain. Long-term CPAP therapy was associated with modest improvements in depressive symptoms in patients with OSA, particularly in cognitive and behavioral domains. In exploratory analyses, benefits appeared more evident in males, but these findings should be interpreted with caution given the limited female sample size.
SN - 1984-0659
SN - 1984-0063
ER -