Sleep and Cognitive Performance: Exploring Benzodiazepine Receptor Agonist Use, Insomnia Symptoms, and Obstructive Sleep Apnea
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Updated: Nov 1, 2026

High-Throughput Small Molecule Drug Screening For Age-Related Sleep Disorders Using Drosophila melanogaster
Published on: October 20, 2023
Lydia Ann1,2, Tue Te2,3, Michael Mitchell2
1University of California Irvine Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Orange, United States.
Objectives:
We hypothesized that benzodiazepine/z-drug (BZRA) dose, insomnia symptoms, and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk are associated with cognitive performance above and beyond other modifiable dementia risk factors.
Methods:
In this cross-sectional study, we used baseline data from recruited patients without dementia from one VA site and one academic site to analyze regression models based on previously published risk factors for cognitive impairment, adapted to include sleep and benzodiazepine usage interactions. Changes in R2 and model fit (F-tests) were examined for four nested regression models predicting Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE), Trail Making Test (TMT)-A, TMT-B, and Digit Symbol Substitution Test (DSST). Base Models included common dementia risk factors. Model-2 = Base + Insomnia Severity Index; Model-3 = Model-2 + dose; Model-4 = Model-3 + OSA risk; and Model-5 = Model-4 + OSA-BZRA.
Results:
R2 for the base model predicting MMSE was 0.139 (n = 313), 0.241 for TMT-A (n = 298), 0.229 for TMT-B (n = 287), and 0.189 for DSST (n = 285). Model-5 R2 was 0.142 for MMSE, 0.246 for TMT-A, 0.238 for TMT-B, and 0.190 for DSST, with all F-test p-values >.145.
Conclusions:
Sleep disorder variables did not significantly explain additional variation in cognition performance. Studies with a wider range of cognitive performance are needed.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at https://doi.org/10.1007/s12126-026-09684-6.
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