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Quality Sleep, Lack of Sleep Apnea Linked With Better Global Cognition
Better sleep consolidation and the absence of sleep apnea were associated with better global cognition over 5 years in an analysis of middle-aged to older US adults across five independent community-based cohorts. Researchers published their findings in JAMA Network Open.
“These findings suggest that in adults without dementia, sleep consolidation and the absence of sleep apnea may be particularly important for optimizing cognition with aging,” wrote corresponding authors Matthew P. Pase, PhD, of the Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, Monash University, Melbourne, Australia, and Jayandra J. Himali, PhD, of the Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s and Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, San Antonio, Texas, along with coauthors from the Sleep and Dementia Consortium.
The study included 5946 adults aged 58 to 89 years from 5 population-based US cohorts: the Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities Study, Cardiovascular Health Study, Framingham Heart Study, Osteoporotic Fractures in Men Study, and Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Participants had methodologically consistent, home-based overnight sleep studies and neuropsychological assessments over 5 years of follow-up. Researchers were interested in investigating the relationships between sleep architecture, obstructive sleep apnea, and cognitive function.
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Across cohorts, global cognition was better with higher sleep maintenance efficiency and lower wake after sleep onset, according to the findings. Obstructive sleep apnea, meanwhile, was linked with poorer global cognition.
“At least half our sample had evidence of at least mild obstructive sleep apnea,” Dr Pase said. “I think the most interesting finding is that participants that have mild to severe sleep apnea had worse cognition, so they had worse thinking and memory performance, for example. This is significant because there have been some studies that have shown relationships between obstructive sleep apnea and poor cognition, but they’ve genuinely relied on people with a diagnosis.”
Differences in sleep stage percentages were not linked with global cognition, the study found. When researchers looked at sleep metrics and cognitive domains, however, they found short total sleep time was associated with poorer attention and processing speed.
“Future Sleep and Dementia Consortium analyses will build upon these findings to further investigate whether and how poor sleep may be associated with cognitive impairment and dementia,” researchers advised.
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