Sleep Apnea and Visual Perceptual Skill Learning

NCT ID: NCT01852929

Last Updated: 2013-05-14

Basic Information

• Recruitment Status: COMPLETED
• Clinical Phase: NA
• Total Enrollment: 14 participants
• Study Classification: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Start Date: 2009-11-30
• Study Completion Date: 2012-05-31

Brief Summary

The purpose of this study is to determine whether obstructive sleep apnea affects sleep dependent memory and learning. Subjects with apnea will be given a test of perceptual skill learning (the Visual Discrimination Task (VDT)) that has previously been shown to depend on sleep. Subjects will be tested on this task before and after sleep. The difference in performance after sleep compared to before sleep provides a measure of sleep dependent learning. Participants will be tested on one night when they have less apnea because they are using continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) as prescribed by their physician, which is well known to reduce apnea; and on another night when they are in their native state and have a greater degree of apnea. Memory performance will be compared between the two nights to determine how apnea affects sleep dependent memory.

Conditions

Apnea

Study Design

• Allocation Method: NON_RANDOMIZED
• Intervention Model: CROSSOVER
• Blinding Strategy: NONE

Study Groups

Apnea patients on and off PAP in order A

Subject using usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping for one night, then crossing over to not using usual apnea therapy while sleeping for another night.

Group Type: OTHER

Subject using usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping for one night

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants use their usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping overnight

Apnea patients on and off PAP in order B

Subject not using apnea therapy while sleeping for one night, then crossing over and subject using usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping for one night.

Group Type: OTHER

Subject using usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping for one night

Intervention Type: OTHER

Participants use their usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping overnight

Interventions

Subject using usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping for one night

Participants use their usual positive airway pressure therapy while sleeping overnight

Intervention Type: OTHER

Eligibility Criteria

Inclusion Criteria

• Clinical diagnosis of sleep apnea
• Use PAP therapy as prescribed by his/her physician for 3-4 weeks prior to enrollment
• Right-handed

Exclusion Criteria

• Major neurological or psychiatric condition
• Chronic pain condition
• Learning disabilities
• Serious brain or head injury (e.g. seizure, stroke, head trauma)
• Major surgery or general anesthesia in the past year
• Pregnant or nursing
• Problems with eyes or vision (besides corrected-to-normal with glasses or contacts)
• Past diagnosis of infection that can affect the brain (e.g. meningitis, HIV/AIDS)
• Medications that affect sleep (antidepressants, muscle relaxants, sleep aids, beta-blockers, stimulants, or corticosteroids)
• Recreational drug use, including marijuana
• Night-shift work
• Cancer or cancer treatment in the last 2 years
• Smoke more than 10 cigarettes per day
• Consume more than 3 caffeinated foods or beverages per day

• Minimum Eligible Age: 18 Years
• Maximum Eligible Age: 50 Years
• Eligible Sex: ALL
• Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Sponsors

Heidi Roth, MD

OTHER

Sponsor Role: lead

Responsible Party

Heidi Roth, MD

Associate Professor of Neurology

Responsibility Role: SPONSOR_INVESTIGATOR

Principal Investigators

Heidi Roth, MD

Role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill

Locations

UNC Hospitals Sleep Disorders Center

Chapel Hill, North Carolina, United States

Countries

United States

References

Stickgold R, Whidbee D, Schirmer B, Patel V, Hobson JA. Visual discrimination task improvement: A multi-step process occurring during sleep. J Cogn Neurosci. 2000 Mar;12(2):246-54. doi: 10.1162/089892900562075.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 10771409 (View on PubMed)

Karni A, Sagi D. Where practice makes perfect in texture discrimination: evidence for primary visual cortex plasticity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Jun 1;88(11):4966-70. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.11.4966.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 2052578 (View on PubMed)

Karni A, Tanne D, Rubenstein BS, Askenasy JJ, Sagi D. Dependence on REM sleep of overnight improvement of a perceptual skill. Science. 1994 Jul 29;265(5172):679-82. doi: 10.1126/science.8036518.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 8036518 (View on PubMed)

Stickgold R, James L, Hobson JA. Visual discrimination learning requires sleep after training. Nat Neurosci. 2000 Dec;3(12):1237-8. doi: 10.1038/81756. No abstract available.

Reference Type: BACKGROUND

PMID: 11100141 (View on PubMed)

Other Identifiers

09-1944

Identifier Type: -

Identifier Source: org_study_id