Dementia Risk Linked to REM Sleep
Mechanisms of the rapid eye movement (REM) stage of sleep could be a potential predictors for dementia, according to a recent study, which found that those who get less REM sleep have an increased risk for developing dementia.
In their study, the researchers assessed the associations between sleep architecture and the incidence of dementia using data from a cohort of 321 participants from the Framingham Heart Study who were involved in the Sleep Heart Health Study between 1995 and 1998 and were over 60 years of age at the time of the sleep assessment. The mean age of participants was 67± 5 years, and 50% of participants were male. Home-based polysomnography was used to quantify the stages of sleep.
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Over the mean 12 ± 5 years of follow-up, 32 cases of dementia were observed, 24 of which were consistent with Alzheimer disease dementia.
Lower rapid eye movement (REM) sleep percentage and longer REM sleep latency were associated with a higher risk for dementia after the researchers adjusted for age and sex, with each percentage reduction in REM sleep associated with an approximately 9% increased risk for dementia. The magnitude of this association was similar in additional adjustments for vascular risk factors, depression, and medication use, which excluded persons with mild cognitive impairment at baseline and those who developed dementia early.
The researchers did not find any associations between dementia risk and non-REM sleep stages.
“Despite contemporary interest in slow-wave sleep and dementia pathology, our findings implicate REM sleep mechanisms as predictors of clinical dementia,” the researchers concluded.
—Melissa Weiss
Reference:
Pase MP, Himali JJ, Grima NA, et al. Sleep architecture and the risk of incident dementia in the community [published online before print August 23, 2017]. Neurology. http://dx.doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000004373.