summary: People who have trouble falling asleep within 30 minutes or who use sleeping pills are at higher risk of developing dementia with age, according to a new study. People who have trouble falling asleep are less likely to develop dementia.
sauce: Elsevier
In addition to the growing body of evidence on sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment, a new study found significant associations between three measures of sleep disturbance and 10-year risk of developing dementia.
Results reported in American Journal of Preventive Medicine, According to a paper published by Elsevier, sleep-onset insomnia (difficulty falling asleep within 30 minutes) and the use of sleeping pills increase the risk of developing dementia.
The researchers also found that people who reported having sleep-maintaining insomnia (difficulty going back to sleep after waking up) were less likely to develop dementia over the course of the study.
“We expected that sleep onset insomnia and hypnotic use increased the risk of dementia, but we were surprised to find that sleep maintenance insomnia decreased the risk of dementia.” Public Health and Preventive Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical College, Syracuse, New York, USA.
“The motivation behind this study was prompted on a personal level. After reading the existing literature, I was surprised to see mixed results on the relationship between sleep and dementia, so I decided to investigate this topic.
This study is novel because it is the first to examine how long-term sleep-disorder measures are associated with dementia risk using a nationally representative US sample of older adults. Previous studies have linked REM sleep behavior, sleep deprivation (sleep less than 5 hours for him), and use of short-acting benzodiazepines to cognitive decline. Their results on sleep maintenance insomnia corroborate other recent studies using smaller individual data samples.
In this study, 10 annual waves of prospective data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), a longitudinal panel study examining a nationally representative sample of Medicare beneficiaries age 65 and older in the United States (2011 year to 2020). This study included only people without dementia at baseline in 2011.
There is no cure for dementia and the limited success of recent pharmaceutical approaches to treat dementia points to the importance of preventive approaches to dementia.
“By focusing on changes in sleep disturbances, our findings help inform lifestyle changes that can reduce the risk of dementia,” said co-investigator Margaret Ann Rovier, MPH. , Public Health and Preventive Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, Syracuse explained. New York, USA.
Although the mechanism of dementia risk reduction in patients with sleep-maintaining insomnia is still unknown, researchers found that active participation in activities that maintain or increase cognitive reserve reduces dementia risk. I theorize that it is possible.
Recent evidence indicates a higher prevalence of sleep disorders in the elderly than in other age groups. This could be due to a number of factors, including fears over the COVID-19 pandemic and warmer nights as a result of climate change.
“Older people are losing sleep due to a variety of concerns. More research is needed to better understand their causes and symptoms and limit long-term effects,” added Dr. Wong.
“Our findings highlight the importance of considering a history of sleep disturbances when assessing the dementia risk profile of older adults. using a national longitudinal sample to determine whether it fits the disease subtype and how specific sociodemographic characteristics may interact with sleep disturbances to influence dementia risk. Future studies are needed to examine other measures of sleep disorders.”
About this dementia and sleep research news
author: Eileen Leahy
sauce: Elsevier
contact: Eileen Leahy – Elsevier
image: image is public domain
See also
Original research: open access.
“Sleep Disorders and Dementia Risk in Older Adults: Findings from 10-Year National Projection Data” by Roger Wong et al. American Journal of Preventive Medicine
overview
Sleep Disorders and Dementia Risk in Older Adults: Findings from 10-Year National Projection Data
prologue
Previous studies have confirmed a link between sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment. However, no studies have examined this relationship using a US national sample. This study examines how multiple longitudinal measures of sleep disturbances (sleep-onset insomnia, sleep-maintenance insomnia, and sleeping pill use) are associated with dementia risk.
method
Ten annual waves (2011-2020) of prospective cohort data from a nationally representative sample of adults aged 65 years and older were analyzed from the National Health and Aging Trends Study. Sleep disturbances were converted into longitudinal scores and included sleep onset insomnia (difficulty falling asleep in 30 minutes), sleep maintenance insomnia (difficulty falling asleep after waking up early), and sleep medication use (taking medications to help sleep). ) was measured as A Cox regression model analyzed time to dementia diagnosis for a sample of 6,284 respondents.
result
In the unadjusted model, insomnia at sleep onset was significantly associated with a 51% increased risk of dementia (hazard ratio = 1.51, 95% CI = 1.19, 1.90). When adjusted for sociodemographics, sleeping pill use was significantly associated with a 30% increased risk of dementia (adjusted hazard ratio = 1.30, 95% CI = 1.08–1.56). Adjusting for sociodemographic and health status, sleep maintenance insomnia was significantly associated with a 40% reduction in dementia risk (adjusted hazard ratio = 0.60, 95% CI = 0.46, 0.77).
Conclusion
These findings suggest that insomnia and use of sleeping pills at the onset of sleep may increase the risk of dementia. Based on current evidence, sleep disturbances should be considered when assessing the risk profile of dementia. Future research is needed to investigate other sleep-disorder strategies and to investigate the mechanisms of dementia risk reduction in older adults with sleep maintenance insomnia.
