Association Between Obstructive Sleep Apnea, Its Treatment, and Alzheimer's Disease: Systematic Mini-Review

Abstract

Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and Alzheimer's disease (AD) are common in the elderly population. Obstructive sleep apnea that may cause significant changes in the cerebrospinal fluid beta-amyloid and T-tau and/or P-tau protein levels is often identified as a risk factor for development of AD.

Although the underlying mechanisms of AD are still not fully understood, a hypothesis associating OSA with AD has been already proposed. In this systematic mini-review, we first discuss the recent findings supporting the association of OSA with an increased risk of AD and then provide evidence suggesting the positive effect of OSA treatment on a reduced risk of AD.

Keywords

• Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA)
• Alzheimer's disease
• sleep disturbance and sleep disordered breathing
• continuous positive air pressure
• OSA treatment
• cerebrospinal fluid-CSF