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Device may help apnea patients with memory loss
By Eric Nagourney

Wednesday, December 20, 2006
People who suffer from obstructive sleep apnea, a breathing disorder that can lead to serious health problems, can benefit greatly from a device that helps them breathe regularly in bed. But the contraption is not terribly popular because it can be uncomfortable.

Now researchers have found another reason apnea patients should use it regularly: it may reverse the memory problems that often accompany sleep apnea.

Writing in the journal Chest, the researchers said patients who used continuous positive air pressure devices for six hours a night or more scored higher on memory tests. The study was led by Molly Zimmerman, who was at Brown University Medical School.

People with sleep apnea awaken repeatedly during the night when they stop breathing, although they may not be aware of doing so. They often suffer from fatigue, high blood pressure and memory loss. The best way to treat the condition, doctors say, is to use the breathing device.

For the study, the researchers looked at 58 apnea patients who had memory problems and put them in three groups. The first used the devices less than two hours a night, the second two to six hours and the third more than six hours.

After three months, improvements in memory were found in a fifth of the first group, almost half of the second and two-thirds of the last. Members of the third group were almost eight times as likely as those in the first to have clinically normal memory skills.