Abstract
Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a frequent syndrome characterized by repeated pharyngeal obstruction during sleep. Some of its consequences include excessive daily somnolence, impaired cognition, and cardiovascular and metabolic dysfunction. Caffeine, the world's most widely consumed psychoactive drug, affects both the respiratory function and the sleep/waking cycle, but the pattern and effects of caffeine consumption on patients with OSA are mostly unknown. We performed a retrospective study evaluating caffeine consumption in the last 20 years of 48 patients with OSA and 49 healthy controls, and found no differences in caffeine consumption between the two groups (203.9±147.8 mg/day vs. 203.9±127.5 mg/day). Although there was no correlation between caffeine consumption and either risk factors or consequences of OSA, there was a positive correlation between caffeine consumption and severity of OSA upon adjustment for somnolence. A negative correlation between sleepiness and caffeine consumption was also found. In conclusion, the present study suggests that caffeine consumption is not associated with the development of OSA, but may have a correlation with the associated sleepiness and severity of the syndrome.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.