摘要Background:Current views on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) treatment to improve the cognitive deficits of patients with obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) are controversial,so we performed a meta-analysis.Methods:A comprehensive literature search was tmdertaken in PubMed,CINAHL,Medline,PsycInfo,EMBASE,Cochrane Library,CNKI,WanFang,VIP,and CBMdisc for studies published from June 1971 to July 2014.The outcome measures included neuropsychological tests of the 7 cognitive domains detailed below.Results:After screening the titles and abstracts and thoroughly reading the full text,we obtained 13 studies with little risk of bias that incorporated 1744 middle-aged obese participants with mild to severe OSAS.The studies were published from 1994 to 2012.Treatment durations varied from 1 to 24 weeks.The effect sizes of attention,vigilance,processing speed,working memory,memory,verbal fluency,and visuoconstructive skills domains were-0.10 (P =0.24),-0.12 (P =0.04),-0.08 (P =0.16),0.00 (P =0.95),-0.04 (P =0.30),-0.06 (P =0.34),and-0.01 (P =0.92),respectively.Conclusions:Cognition partially improved in patients with OSAS after CPAP treatment.The only domain with significant improvement was vigilance.Rigorous randomized controlled trials need to be performed to obtain clear results.