Poor Sleep May Predict Alzheimer Disease Later
Poor sleep quality may be an early predictor of and risk factor developing Alzheimer disease (AD), according to a recent study.
In their study, the researchers sought to assess the association between sleep quality and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) AD biomarkers. The researchers evaluated a cohort of 101 cognitively normal participants with a mean age of 62.9 years who had a parental history of sporadic AD and were registered in the Wisconsin Registry for Alzheimer’s Prevention.
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Participants were analyzed via self-reported sleep assessments and CSF samples. Sleep quality was measured via the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale.
The researchers examined CSF samples for biomarkers of amyloid metabolism and plaques (β-amyloid 42 [Aβ42]), tau pathology (phosphorylated tau [p-tau] 181), neuronal/axonal degeneration (total tau [t-tau], neurofilament light [NFL]), neuroinflammation/astroglial activation (monocyte chemoattractant protein–1 [MCP-1], chitinase-3-like protein 1 [YKL-40]), and synaptic dysfunction/degeneration (neurogranin).
Aβ42 was expressed relative to Aβ40 to adjust for individual differences in total amyloid production. Additionally, CSF biomarkers were expressed in ratio to Aβ42 to assess cumulative pathology. The researchers evaluated relationships between sleep scores and CSF biomarkers via multiple regression, while controlling for age, sex, time between sleep and CSF measurements, and CSF assay batch.
Results of the study indicated that worse self-reported sleep quality, more sleep problems, and daytime somnolence were related to increased AD pathology, which was indicated by lower CSF Aβ42/Aβ40 and higher t-tau/Aβ42, p-tau/Aβ42, MCP-1/Aβ42, and YKL-40/Aβ42.
The researchers noted no significant relationships between sleep and NFL or neurogranin.
“Self-report of poor sleep was associated with greater AD-related pathology in cognitively healthy adults at risk for AD,” the researchers concluded. “Effective strategies exist for improving sleep; therefore sleep health may be a tractable target for early intervention to attenuate AD pathogenesis.”
—Christina Vogt
Reference:
Sprecher KE, Koscik RL, Carlsson CM, et al. Poor sleep is associated with CSF biomarkers of amyloid pathology in cognitively normal adults [Published online July 5, 2017]. Neurology. doi:10.1212/WNL.0000000000004171.