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Published on: January 11, 2020
Association of sleep duration with Alzheimer's disease and cognition
Filippos Anagnostakis1,2, Cliodhna Kate O'Toole2, Guray Erus1
1Artificial Intelligence in Biomedical Imaging Laboratory (AIBIL), Center for AI and Data Science for Integrated Diagnostics (AI2D), Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.
Introduction:
The association of sleep duration with Alzheimer's disease (AD) - related brain atrophy and cognition remains unclear.
Methods:
Among 38,816 participants in the UK Biobank, we examined the association between sleep duration and a validated machine-learning-derived magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) signature of AD-related atrophy (Spatial Pattern of Abnormality for Recognition of Early AD [SPARE-AD]) and three cognitive test scores using generalized additive models. Independently, electronic health records (EHR) from TriNetX were used to examine the 10-year AD risk associated with insomnia and hypersomnia.
Results:
Sleep duration exhibited a U-shaped association with SPARE-AD (p = 0.001), Trail Making Tests A and B, and the Digit Symbol Substitution Test (all p < 0.001). Short (5-6 hours) and long (9-10 hours) sleep duration were associated with poorer cognitive performance. Both insomnia and hypersomnia showed a high risk for Alzheimer's disease.
Conclusion:
This study demonstrates a U-shaped association between sleep duration and AD-like atrophy and cognition.
Discussion:
These findings show that excessive or insufficient sleep is linked to worse brain health.
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