Sleep-disordered breathing and subsequent dementia in older women

January 01, 0001

Sleep-disordered breathing and subsequent dementia in older women

Sleep-disordered breathing, which involves recurrent arousals and intermittent hypoxemia during sleep, is common among geriatric patients. These US researchers examined the prospective relationship between sleep- disordered breathing and later cognitive through a prospective sleep and cognition study. They enrolled 298 women without dementia in a substudy of the Study of Osteoporotic Fractures. Sleep-disordered breathing was diagnosed with polysomnography.

The researchers found: "Compared with the 193 women without sleep- disordered breathing, the 105 women (35.2%) with sleep-disordered breathing were more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia (31.1% {n = 60} vs 44.8% {n = 47} adjusted odds ratio {AOR}, 1.85). Elevated oxygen desaturation index (=15 events/hour) and high percentage of sleep time (>7%) in apnea or hypopnea (both measures of disordered breathing) were associated with risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia (AOR, 1.71 and AOR, 2.04, respectively). Measures of sleep fragmentation (arousal index and wake after sleep onset) or sleep duration (total sleep time) were not associated with risk of cognitive impairment."

The researchers concluded: "Among older women, those with sleep- disordered breathing compared with those without sleep-disordered breathing had an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment."

Sleep-disordered breathing appears to be a risk factor for subsequent cognitive impairment in older women

For the full abstract, click here.

JAMA 306(6):613-619, 11 August 2011 © 2011 American Medical Association
Sleep-Disordered Breathing, Hypoxia, and Risk of Mild Cognitive Impairment and Dementia in Older Women. Kristine Yaffe, Alison M. Laffan, Stephanie Litwack Harrison, et al.

Category: N. Neurological, R. Respiratory. Keywords: sleep-disordered breathing, cognitive impairment, dementia, women, geriatric, case-control study, journal watch.
Synopsis edited by Dr Paul Schaefer, Toledo, Ohio. Posted on Global Family Doctor 23 August 2011

Pearls are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care.

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