Exploring the Biopsychosocial Pathways Shared by Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) and Central Serous Chorioretinopathy (CSC): A Literature Overview

This study addressed the following question: Is it possible to highlight the link between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) through common biopsychosocial pathogenetic pathways?. The study was conducted through electronic searches of the PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus databases. All relevant selected human research studies published from January 2003 to December 2020 were included. The scientific literature search was performed through repeated use of the words OSA and/or acute/chronic CSC paired with biomedical/biopsychosocial illness model, psychopathology, stress, personality characteristics, functional diseases, comorbidity, and quality of life in different combinations. Our literature search identified 213 reports, of which 54 articles were ultimately reviewed in this paper. Taken together, the results indicate that there is a cross-link between OSA and CSC that can be classified among biopsychological disorders in which various major biological variables integrate with psychological-functional and sociological variables; many of these variables appear in both diseases. This concept can have important implications for improving patients' quality of life, thus providing the necessary strategies to cope with challenging life events even through nonpharmacological approaches.

Automated summary

This study found a connection between OSA and CSC, classified as a biopsychological disorder where biological, psychological-functional, and sociological variables interact, which could have significant implications in improving patients' quality of life.