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Updated: Jul 22, 2025

Multi-Modal Home Sleep Monitoring in Older Adults
Published on: January 26, 2019
Periodic leg movements during sleep and cognitive functioning in the older general population
Nicola Andrea Marchi1, Arton Peci2, José Haba-Rubio2
1Center for Investigation and Research in Sleep, Department of Medicine, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Laboratory for Research in Neuroimaging, Department of Clinical Neurosciences, Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland; Center for Advanced Research in Sleep Medicine, Hôpital du Sacré-Coeur de Montréal, Montréal, Canada; Department of Psychology, Université de Montréal, Montréal, Canada.
Objective:
The current evidence of a relationship between periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMS) and cognitive functioning is limited and inconsistent. This cross-sectional study assessed associations between PLMS and cognitive functioning among community-dwelling older adults.
Methods:
We included community-dwelling older adults who underwent a polysomnography and a cognitive assessment. The PLMS index (PLMI) and PLMS arousal index (PLMAI) were categorized into tertiles: PLMI <5/h (reference), 5-29.9/h, ≥30/h; and PLMAI <1/h (reference), 1-4.9/h, ≥5/h. The cognitive assessment consisted of ten scores covering the main cognitive domains: global cognition, processing speed, executive function, language, episodic verbal memory, and visuospatial function. Associations between PLMI, PLMAI, and cognitive scores were assessed using regression unadjusted and adjusted models.
Results:
A total of 579 individuals without dementia were included (mean age: 71.5 ± 4.4 years; men 45.4%). The number of participants in the high-PLMI categories, 5-29.9/h and ≥30/h, was 185 (32.0%) and 171 (29.5%), respectively. Participants in the high-PLMI categories showed no significant difference compared to the reference group regarding their cognitive performance according to the unadjusted and adjusted models. Similarly, we found no association between PLMAI severity and cognitive functioning.
Conclusions:
This study shows no cross-sectional association between PLMS severity and cognitive functioning among community-dwelling older adults. However, given the paucity of data in this field, further studies are needed to clarify the relationship between PLMS and cognitive functioning.
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