Poor sleep affects you over a lifetime

New research indicates that poor sleep not only affects you the next day, but over a lifetime.

A poor night's sleep can affect performance at work the next day, but over time, could disrupted sleep affect brain function in a permanent way? New evidence suggests it could.

A new study found that patients with issues like sleep apnea or heavy snoring developed problems with cognition around 10 years earlier than those without sleep-breathing troubles.

"Abnormal breathing patterns during sleep such as heavy snoring and sleep apnea are common in the elderly, affecting about 52 percent of men and 26 percent of women," explained the study's lead author, Ricardo S. Osorio, M.D., of the NYU School of Medicine in New York, in a press release.

In sleep apnea, breathing starts and stops repeatedly over the course of the night. Osorio and team wanted to see whether sleep apnea and other abnormal breathing patterns (called sleep-disordered breathing) were tied to cognitive issues.

To do so, these researchers looked at data from the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative, which involved over 2,000 adults between the ages of 55 and 90. Some patients had no cognitive problems, while some developed Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment (MCI). In MCI, cognitive issues have developed beyond what is expected in normal aging but not far enough to be considered dementia.

Osorio and team found that patients who had sleep-disordered breathing started showing signs of cognitive problems an average of 10 years earlier than those who did not have issues with abnormal breathing patterns during sleep.

When looking only at patients with cognitive issues, those with sleep-disordered breathing started showing signs of MCI at an average age of 77. The same was true for those without the breathing troubles at an average age of 90.

In this group of patients, Alzheimer's disease was also seen earlier -- at an average age of 83 among those with sleep-disordered breathing, compared to an average age of 88 among those without breathing issues.

Osorio and team also looked at the effects of treating abnormal breathing patterns with continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP). CPAP delivers air pressure through a mask during sleep, helping to keep the airways open.

Treatment with CPAP seemed to reduce the risk of developing cognitive issues earlier, Osorio and colleagues found. Patients who used CPAP developed MCI at an average age of 82, compared to an average age of 72 among those who did not receive treatment for their sleep-disordered breathing.

"These findings were made in an observational study and as such, do not indicate a cause-and-effect relationship,” Osorio noted. “However, we are now focusing our research on CPAP treatment and memory and thinking decline over decades, as well as looking specifically at markers of brain cell death and deterioration.”

This study was published online April 15 in the journal Neurology.

Several study authors received industry support within the past two years and held patents involving procedures related to the study. A number of groups funded this research, such as the Foundation for Research in Sleep Disorders and the Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative.

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Study: Concussions and Alzheimer's are linked

According to a new study, older adults with memory issues and Alzheimer's disease also generally have a history of concussion.

Older adults with memory problems and a history of concussion have more buildup of Alzheimer's disease-associated plaques in the brain than those who also had concussions but don't have memory problems, according to a new study.

''What we think it suggests is, head trauma is associated with Alzheimer's-type dementia -- it's a risk factor," said study researcher Michelle Mielke, an associate professor of epidemiology and neurology at Mayo Clinic Rochester. "But it doesn't mean someone with head trauma is [automatically] going to develop Alzheimer's."

Her study is published online Dec. 26 and in the Jan. 7 print issue of the journal Neurology.

Previous studies looking at whether head trauma is a risk factor for Alzheimer's have come up with conflicting results, she noted. And Mielke stressed that she has found only a link or association, not a cause-and-effect relationship.

In the study, Mielke and her team evaluated 448 residents of Olmsted County, Minn., who had no signs of memory problems. They also evaluated another 141 residents with memory and thinking problems known as mild cognitive impairment.

More than 5 million Americans have Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association. Plaques are deposits of a protein fragment known as beta-amyloid that can build up in between the brain's nerve cells. While most people develop some with age, those who develop Alzheimer's generally get many more, according to the Alzheimer's Association. They also tend to get them in a predictable pattern, starting in brain areas crucial for memory.

In the Mayo study, all participants were aged 70 or older. The participants reported if they ever had a brain injury that involved loss of consciousness or memory.

Of the 448 without any memory problems, 17 percent had reported a brain injury. Of the 141 with memory problems, 18 percent did. This suggests that the link between head trauma and the plaques is complex, Mielke said, as the proportion of people reporting concussion was the same in both groups.

Brain scans were done on all the participants. Those who had both concussion history and cognitive [mental] impairment had levels of amyloid plaques that were 18 percent higher than those with cognitive impairment but no head trauma history, the investigators found.

Among those with mild cognitive impairment, those with concussion histories had a nearly five times higher risk of elevated plaque levels than those without a history of concussion.

The researchers don't know why some with concussion history develop memory problems and others do not.

The research was funded by the U.S. National Institutes of Health, among several other supporters.

The study adds valuable information for experts in the field, said Dr. Robert Glatter, director of sports medicine and traumatic brain injury in the department of emergency medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, in New York City. Glatter, who is also a former sideline physician for the National Football League's New York Jets, reviewed the new study findings.

Other studies, he said, often rely on postmortem information. In the Mayo study, participants had to have loss of consciousness as a measure of having a concussion history, Glatter noted. However, he added, the new thinking is that loss of consciousness is not necessary to define a concussion -- one can occur without that.

The effect of head injury may be cumulative over time in the development of Alzheimer's, he said. In the past, experts thought only severe head trauma was linked with Alzheimer's, but less severe injury may actually be relevant as well, he added.

Some other factor or factors yet to be discovered may be at play, Glatter said.

Both Mielke and Glatter stressed that concussions don't automatically lead to Alzheimer's. "Not all people with head trauma develop Alzheimer's," Glatter said.

"If you do hit your head, it doesn't mean you are going to develop Alzheimer's," Mielke said, although "it may increase your risk."

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Poverty in children and brain development - A Neuro-Thanksgiving Consideration

A Neuro-Thanksgiving Consideration

This study looks at a link between poverty during early childhood and impaired brain development. JR


Poverty in early childhood appears to be associated with smaller brain volumes measured through imaging at school age and early adolescence, according to a study published byJAMA Pediatrics, a JAMA Network publication.

Poverty is known to be associated with a higher risk of poor cognitive outcomes and school performance, according to the study background.

Joan Luby, M.D., of the Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, and colleagues investigated the effect of poverty on brain development by examining white and cortical gray matter, as well as hippocampus and amygdala volumes in a group of children ages 6 to 12 years who were followed since preschool. The 145 children were recruited from a larger group of children who participated in a preschool depression study.

The authors report that "exposure to poverty during early childhood is associated with smaller white mater, cortical gray matter, and hippocampal and amygdala volumes," the authors write.

Study findings also indicate that the effects of poverty on hippocampal volume were mediated (influenced) by caregiving and stressful life events.

"The finding that the effects of poverty on hippocampal development are mediated through caregiving and stressful life events further underscores the importance of high-quality early childhood caregiving, a task that can be achieved through parenting education and support, as well as through preschool programs that provide high-quality supplementary caregiving and safe haven to vulnerable young children," the study concludes. 

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