Monday, August 27, 2012

Sleep Apnea And Depression: The Dental Connection!

Recently, an article was published citing a link between patients that suffer from obstructive sleep apnea and depression.  The CDC, as part of an ongoing study, surveyed about 10,000 men and women and found that 6% of men and 3% of women reported having been diagnosed with some form of sleep apnea. Although the other participants in the study had not been officially diagnosed with sleep apnea, they reported symptoms of snoring, gasping for air and snorting during sleep.

An interesting link was found that suggests that while men are at a higher risk for sleep apnea than women, women were found to have reported symptoms of depression twice as frequently as men.  However, researchers found that depression was not linked just to patients with a diagnosis of obstructive sleep apnea.  People whose partners reported that they snored or stopped breathing occasionally were also more likely to show symptoms of depression.

Although the new research has not yet established a cause-and-effect relationship between sleep apnea and depression, this evidence may be the new information that can lead to a better understanding of a possible link between the two common health related issues.  There are many things that we all deal with regularly that could have roots in something else.  For more information, call our office at 918-455-0123 for an appointment.

God Bless,
DRT

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