Repercussions of sleep quality on the P300 auditory evoked potential in older adults

P300 is a long-latency evoked potential that takes place around 300 milliseconds after the onset of a relevant stimulus. It can be assessed by measuring the latency and amplitude of the P3 wave, which are associated with information processing time and attention level, respectively.

To investigate the association between sleep quality and latency and amplitude of the P300 wave in aged individuals.

A quantitative and observational cross-sectional study was conducted with 28 older adults, excluding those with cognitive impairments or hearing loss. Sociodemographic data, P300 test latency and amplitude and the Mini Sleep Questionnaire were used, which defined two study groups: good sleep and altered sleep.

The results indicated that the group with altered sleep quality presented lower P3 wave amplitudes in the Cz, Fz and Pz channels (p=0.07; p=0.00; p=0.01, respectively). No significant differences were observed in the P300 wave latency between the groups. In the correlation test, it was noticed that the more sleep altered, the lower the P3 wave amplitude in the Fz channel (rho=-0.46, p=0.02).

P300 amplitude was sensitive to changes in sleep quality, suggesting a decline in attention without a corresponding effect on the information processing speed. There is a relationship between amplitude of the P300 wave and sleep quality in aged people, suggesting that poor sleep quality exerts negative impacts on cognitive performance.