Older people who are sleepy during the day or lack enthusiasm for activities because of sleep problems may be more likely to develop a syndrome that can lead to dementia, according to a study published in the Nov. 6, 2024, online issue. Neurology®the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
People with the syndrome walk slowly and report having memory problems, although they do not have mobility impairment or dementia. The condition is called motor cognitive risk syndrome and can occur before dementia develops.
The study found that people with excessive daytime sleepiness and a lack of enthusiasm for getting things done were more likely to develop the syndrome than people without these sleep-related problems. The research does not prove that these sleep-related problems cause the syndrome, it only shows a connection.
Our findings emphasize the need for screening for sleep problems. There is potential that people can get help with their sleep problems and prevent cognitive decline later in life.”
Victoire Leroy, MD, PhD, study author from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx, New York
The study involved 445 people with an average age of 76 years who did not have dementia. Participants completed questionnaires about sleep at the beginning of the study. They were asked about memory problems and had their walking speed tested on a treadmill at the start of the study and then once a year for an average of three years.
The sleep assessment asked questions such as how often people had trouble sleeping because they woke up in the middle of the night, couldn’t fall asleep within 30 minutes, whether they were too hot or too cold, and whether they took medications to help sleep. The question to assess excessive daytime sleepiness is how often people have had trouble staying awake while driving, eating meals, or participating in social activities. The question about enthusiasm is about how much difficulty people have had in maintaining enough enthusiasm to get things done.
A total of 177 people met the definition of poor sleepers and 268 people met the definition of good sleepers.
At the start of the study, 42 people had motor cognitive risk syndrome. Another 36 people developed the syndrome during the study.
Of those with excessive daytime sleepiness and a lack of enthusiasm, 35.5% developed the syndrome, compared to 6.7% of people without these problems. Once researchers adjusted for other factors that could influence the risk of the syndrome, such as age, depression and other health problems, they found that people with excessive daytime sleepiness and a lack of enthusiasm were more than three times more likely to have it syndrome than people who did not have these sleep-related problems.
“More research needs to be done to look at the relationship between sleep problems and cognitive decline and the role that motor cognitive risk syndrome plays,” Leroy said. “We also need studies to explain the mechanisms linking these sleep disorders to motor cognitive risk syndrome and cognitive decline.”
A limitation of the study is that participants reported their own sleep information, so they may not have remembered everything accurately.
The study was supported by the National Institute on Aging.
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Magazine reference:
Leroy, V., et al. (2024) Association of sleep disturbances with prevalent and incident motor cognitive risk syndrome in community-dwelling older adults. Neurology. doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000210054.