Association of the Sleep Regularity Index With Incident Dementia and Brain Volume.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Irregular sleep may increase the risk of cardiometabolic conditions, but its association with incident dementia is unclear. The aim of this study was to assess the association between sleep regularity, that is, the day-to-day consistency in sleep-wake patterns and the risk of incident dementia and related brain MRI endophenotypes. METHODS: We used Cox proportional hazard models to investigate the relationships between sleep regularity and incident dementia in 88,094 UK Biobank participants. The sleep regularity index (SRI) was calculated as the probability of being in the same state (asleep/awake) at any 2 time points 24 hours apart, averaged over 7 days of accelerometry. RESULTS: The mean age of the sample was 62 years (SD = 8), 56% were women, and the median SRI was 60 (SD = 10). There were 480 cases of incident dementia over a median 7.2 years of follow-up. Following adjustments for demographic, clinical, and genetic confounders (APOE ε4), there was a nonlinear association between the SRI and dementia hazard (p [global test of spline term] < 0.001) with hazard ratios (HRs) following a U-shape pattern. HRs, relative to the median SRI, were 1.53 (95% CI 1.24-1.89) for participants with SRI at the 5th percentile (SRI = 41) and 1.16 (95% CI 0.89-1.50) for those with SRI at the 95th percentile (SRI = 71). In a subset with brain MRI (n = 15,263), gray matter and hippocampal volume tended to be lowest at the extremes of the SRI. DISCUSSION: Sleep regularity displayed a U-shaped association with risk of incident dementia. Irregular sleep may represent a novel dementia risk factor.

The treatment of sleep dysfunction to improve cognitive function: A meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials.

OBJECTIVE: This meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) evaluates if treating sleep disturbances improves cognitive function over at least 12 weeks. METHODS: Multiple data sources were searched until November 1, 2021. RCTs were included if they examined the effect of an intervention (behavioral or medical) on sleep and cognition in an adult sample with sleep disturbances and had an intervention duration and follow-up of at least 12 weeks. Two independent reviewers located 3784 studies; 16 satisfied the inclusion criteria. Primary outcomes included the broad cognitive domains of visual processing, short-term memory, long-term storage and retrieval, processing speed, and reaction time. RESULTS: Most trials were conducted in participants with obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; N = 13); the most studied intervention was continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP; N = 10). All RCTs were 12 months in duration or less. The estimates of mean pooled effects were not indicative of significant treatment effect for any primary outcome. Although the interventions reduced daytime sleepiness (Hedge's g, 0.51; 95% confidence interval, 0.29-0.74; p < 0.01), this did not lead to cognitive enhancement. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, there was insufficient evidence to suggest that treating sleep dysfunction can improve cognition. Further studies with longer follow-up duration and supporting biomarkers are needed.

Insomnia Symptoms and Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease in the Community.

BACKGROUND: Insomnia is one of the most common sleep disorders yet its relationship to the biology of Alzheimer's disease remains equivocal. OBJECTIVE: We investigated the cross-sectional relationship between insomnia symptom severity and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) concentrations of Alzheimer's disease biomarkers in a cognitively unimpaired middle-aged community sample. METHODS: A total of 63 participants from the Healthy Brain Project (age = 59±7 years; 67% women) completed a lumbar puncture and two weeks of actigraphy to measure two of insomnia's core features: difficulty initiating sleep (prolonged sleep onset latency) and difficulty maintaining sleep (wake after sleep onset [WASO] and number of awakenings). Additionally, the Insomnia Severity Index (ISI) was completed by 58 participants. Linear and Tobit regression were used to estimate the associations between each insomnia variable and CSF Aß42, phosphorylated tau 181 (p-tau181), total-tau, and neurofilament light chain protein (NfL), adjusting for age, sex, and APOEɛ4 genotype. RESULTS: Higher ISI score was associated with greater average levels of CSF Aß42 (per point: 30.7 pg/mL, 95% CI: 4.17-57.3, p = 0.023), as was higher WASO (per 10 min: 136 pg/mL, 95% CI: 48-223, p = 0.002) and more awakenings (per 5:123 pg/mL, 95% CI = 55-192, p < 0.001). Difficulty initiating sleep was not associated with CSF Aß42, nor were insomnia features associated with p-tau181, total-tau, or NfL levels. CONCLUSION: Insomnia symptoms were associated with higher CSF Aß42 levels in this relatively young, cognitively unimpaired sample. These findings may reflect increased amyloid production due to acute sleep disruption.

Sleep symptomatology is associated with greater subjective cognitive concerns: findings from the community-based Healthy Brain Project.

STUDY OBJECTIVES: To examine if sleep symptomatology was associated with subjective cognitive concerns or objective cognitive performance in a dementia-free community-based sample. METHODS: A total of 1,421 middle-aged participants (mean ± standard deviation = 57 ± 7; 77% female) from the Healthy Brain Project completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, Insomnia Severity Index, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale to measure sleep quality, insomnia symptom severity, and daytime sleepiness, respectively. Participants were classified as having no sleep symptomatology (normal scores on each sleep measure), moderate sleep symptomatology (abnormal scores on one sleep measure), or high sleep symptomatology (abnormal scores on at least two sleep measures), using established cutoff values. Analysis of covariance was used to compare objective cognitive function (Cogstate Brief Battery) and subjective cognitive concerns (Modified Cognitive Function Instrument) across groups. RESULTS: Following adjustments for age, sex, education, mood, and vascular risk factors, persons classified as having high sleep symptomatology, versus none, displayed more subjective cognitive concerns (d = 0.24) but no differences in objective cognitive performance (d = 0.00-0.18). Subjective cognitive concerns modified the association between sleep symptomatology and psychomotor function. The strength of the relationship between high sleep symptomatology (versus none) and psychomotor function was significantly greater in persons with high as compared with low cognitive concerns (ß ± SE = -0.37 ± 0.16; p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: More severe sleep symptomatology was associated with greater subjective cognitive concerns. Persons reporting high levels of sleep symptomatology may be more likely to display poorer objective cognitive function in the presence of subjective cognitive concerns.

Altered activity-based sleep measures in rhesus monkeys following cocaine self-administration and abstinence.

BACKGROUND: Impairments in sleep and cognitive function have been observed in patients with substance abuse disorders and may be potential factors contributing to drug relapse. In addition, sleep disruption may itself contribute to cognitive deficits. In the present study we examined the impact of prolonged cocaine self-administration and abstinence on actigraphy-based measures of night-time activity in rhesus macaques as an inferential measure of sleep, and determined whether sleep-efficiency correlated with cognitive impairments in the same subjects on drug free days. METHODS: Actigraphy data was obtained from a group of rhesus macaques intravenously self-administering cocaine (n=6) and a control group (n=5). Periods were evaluated during which the mean cumulative doses of cocaine were 3.0+0.0 and 4.5+0.2mg/kg/day for 4days (Tuesday-Thursday) each week. RESULTS: Actigraphy-based sleep efficiency decreased during days of cocaine self-administration in a dose-dependent manner. Consistent with this observation, sleep became more fragmented. Activity-based sleep efficiency normalized during the weekend without cocaine prior to cognitive assessment on Monday. The magnitude of activity-based sleep disruption during self-administration did not correlate with the level of cognitive impairment on drug free days. With continued self-administration, the impact of cocaine on activity-based sleep efficiency declined indicating the development of tolerance. CONCLUSIONS: Cocaine self-administration disrupted sleep efficiency in rhesus macaques as measured by actigraphy, but normalized quickly in the absence of cocaine. The cognitive impairment observed on drug free days was unlikely to be related to disruption of the nightly activity patterns on days of cocaine self-administration.