It’s becoming more and more widely understood that the body is a series of interconnected systems, and that when something goes wrong with one of these systems, then this can cause further complications and side-effects in another. It’s also true that as Obstructive Sleep Apnea is more and more fully understood, and that knowledge permeates throughout the medical profession, more and more connections are being found with OSA and other, secondary conditions.
Here’s another such example of one thing leading to another- Sleep Apnea sufferers have recently been shown to also be prone to developing symptoms of Attention Deficit Disorder (or ADD if you haven’t the patience!)
In a lot of ways, it stands to reason- if your quality of sleep is impaired or reduced, then you’re going to find it harder to concentrate. OSA is one of the most common sleep disorders, but it’s not always looked for or considered as a cause when a patient is suffering from Attention Deficit Disorder. There are new suggestions that ADD sufferers should be screened for Obstructive Sleep Apnea and for other sleep disorders, as there has been found to be a high incidence of ADD for OSA sufferers with no previous history of ADD. Now, it should be said that this isn’t a direct causal link yet, but it is a strong correlation, which seems to chime with the kind of mental effects one would expect from reduced quality of sleep.
Fortunately, however, all the indications are that for such sufferers, treatment is very effective. In tests, a number of patients who had been presenting with medium level to extreme ADHD symptoms were shown to have a significant reduction in these symptoms 60% of the time when treated with a CPAP machine, one of the standard treatments for dealing with Sleep Apnea.
This is a good thing for treatment, and similarly for awareness- the reccomendation of Doctor Clifford Risk of the Marlboro Center for Sleep Disorders to other physicians is that “If they (a patient) have ADHD the doctor should be asking them how their sleep is, do you snore or have sleep apnea and/or do you have insomnia at night?” This increase of awareness, combined with recent improvements in the efficiency and the comfort of diagnosis, is a very good thing indeed for OSA sufferers.
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