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Association of sleep‐disordered breathing with decreased cognitive function among patients with dementia
Author(s) -
Aoki Kiyoaki,
Matsuo Masahiro,
Takahashi Masahiro,
Murakami Junichi,
Aoki Yasusuke,
Aoki Naosuke,
Mizumoto Hirotaka,
Namikawa Ayako,
Hara Hiroko,
Miyagawa Masaharu,
Kadotani Hiroshi,
Yamada Naoto
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
journal of sleep research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.297
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2869
pISSN - 0962-1105
DOI - 10.1111/jsr.12167
Subject(s) - dementia , respiratory disturbance index , sleep disorder , cognition , sleep apnea , medicine , sleep (system call) , breathing , cognitive decline , logistic regression , polysomnography , physical therapy , audiology , psychology , apnea , pediatrics , psychiatry , disease , computer science , operating system
Summary Sleep is known to be essential for proper cognitive functioning. Sleep disturbance, especially respiratory disturbance during sleep, is a risk factor for the development of dementia. However, it is not known whether hypopnoea during sleep is related to severity of cognitive function in patients already diagnosed with dementia. Considering the high prevalence of sleep problems in aged people, it is important to determine if hypopnoea during sleep contributes to dementia. In addition, it would be desirable to develop a feasible method for objectively evaluating sleep in patients with dementia. For this purpose, a simple sleep recorder that employs single or dual bioparameter recording, which is defined as a type‐4 portable monitor, is suitable. In this study, a type‐4 sleep recorder was used to evaluate respiratory function during sleep in 111 patients with dementia, and data suggesting a possible relationship with cognitive function levels were examined. Multivariate logistic regression was used to investigate the association of severity of dementia with sleep‐disordered breathing, age, diabetes, dyslipidaemia and hypertension. It was found that the respiratory disturbance index was associated with severity of cognitive dysfunction in our subjects. Furthermore, patients younger than 80 years were more susceptible to lower cognitive function associated with sleep‐disordered breathing than patients 80 years old or over, because an increase in the respiratory disturbance index was associated with deteriorated cognitive function only in the former age group. These results suggest that proper treatment of sleep apnea is important for the preservation of cognitive function, especially in patients with early‐stage dementia.