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Updated: Jun 9, 2025
Multi-Modal Home Sleep Monitoring in Older Adults
Published on: January 26, 2019
Association of Self-Reported Sleep Characteristics With Neuroimaging Markers of Brain Aging Years Later in
Clémence Cavaillès1, Christina Dintica1, Mohamad Habes1
1From the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (C.C., C.D., Y.L., K.Y.), Neurology (K.Y.), and Epidemiology (K.Y.), University of California, San Francisco; Neuroimage Analytics Laboratory and Biggs Institute Neuroimaging Core (M.H.), Glenn Biggs Institute for Neurodegenerative Disorders, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio; Center for AI and Data Science for Integrated Diagnostics and Center for Biomedical Image Computing and Analytics (M.H.), University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia; and Department of Preventive Medicine (M.R.C.), Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, IL.
Objectives:
To determine the association between early midlife sleep and advanced brain aging patterns in late midlife.
Methods:
Using the CARDIA study, we analyzed sleep data at baseline and 5 years later, focusing on short sleep duration, bad sleep quality (SQ), difficulty initiating and maintaining sleep (DIS and DMS), early morning awakening (EMA), and daytime sleepiness. These were categorized into 0-1, 2-3, and >3 poor sleep characteristics (PSC). Brain MRIs obtained 15 years later were used to determine brain age through a machine learning approach based on age-related atrophy.
Results:
This cohort study included 589 participants (mean age 40.4 ± 3.4 years, 53% women). At baseline, around 70% reported 0-1 PSC, 22% reported 2%-3%, and 8% reported >3 PSC. In multivariable linear regression analyses, participants with 2-3 or >3 PSC had 1.6-year (β = 1.61, 95% CI 0.28-2.93) and 2.6-year (β = 2.64, 95% CI 0.59-4.69) older brain age, respectively, compared with those with 0-1 PSC. Of the individual characteristics, bad SQ, DIS, DMS, and EMA were associated with greater brain age, especially when persistent over the 5-year follow-up.
Discussion:
Poor sleep was associated with advanced brain age in midlife, highlighting the importance of investigating early sleep interventions for preserving brain health.
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