DALLAS: Sleep problems in older adults have been linked to reduced brain volume, new research shows.
A large, cross-sectional imaging study conducted by investigators at Columbia University in New York showed that longer sleep duration and daytime sleepiness were associated with reduced volume in the entorhinal cortex and reduced grey matter volume, respectively.
“According to our study, self-reported daytime sleepiness is associated with changes in grey and cortical matter volume. Furthermore, night-time sleep duration is associated with left entorhinal volume in a large heterogeneous sample of older adults,” said lead researcher, Angeliki Tsapanou, MSc.
The study included 501 participants (71% women) older than age 65 years, recruited from the community as part of the Washington Heights Inwood Community Aging Project (WHICAP).
Sleep problems were assessed by using the 12-item Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale, which examined sleep disturbance, snoring, sleep with shortness of breath or with headache, sleep adequacy, and sleep somnolence, with a possible score of 0 to 6 and higher scores indicating greater sleep dysfunction.
The investigators also conducted T-weighted MRI to acquire regional brain volumes. Linear regression models were used to examine the association between sleep problems and brain volume, with each of the sleep questions as the dependent variable.
Results showed that reduced left entorhinal volume was associated with longer sleep duration (P = .003). In addition, reduced cortical (P = .011) and grey matter (P = .010) volume were correlated with increased daytime sleepiness…