Sleep Disordered Breathing and White Matter Hyperintensities in Community-Dwelling Elders

To examine the association between markers of sleep-disordered breathing (SDB) and white matter hyperintensity (WMH) volume in an elderly, multiethnic, community-dwelling cohort.

This is a cross-sectional analysis from the Washington Heights-Inwood Columbia Aging Project (WHICAP), a community-based epidemiological study of older adults. Structural magnetic resonance imaging was obtained starting in 2004; the Medical Outcomes Study-Sleep Scale (MOS-SS) was administered to participants starting in 2007. Linear regression models were used to assess the relationship between the two MOS-SS questions that measure respiratory dysfunction during sleep and quantified WMH volume among WHICAP participants with brain imaging.

A total of 483 older adults had both structural magnetic resonance imaging and sleep assessment. Self-reported SDB was associated with WMH. After adjusting for demographic and vascular risk factors, WMH volumes were larger in individuals with frequent snoring (β = 2.113, P = 0.004) and among those who reported waking short of breath or with headache (β = 1.862, P = 0.048).

In community-dwelling older adults, self-reported measures of SDB are associated with larger WMH volumes. The cognitive effects of SDB that are increasingly being recognized may be mediated at the small vessel level.