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Randomized Controlled Trial
. 2016 Jan;12(1):21-33.
doi: 10.1016/j.jalz.2015.03.004. Epub 2015 Jun 15.

Sleep duration, cognitive decline, and dementia risk in older women

Jiu-Chiuan Chen  1 , Mark A Espeland  2 , Robert L Brunner  3 , Laura C Lovato  2 , Robert B Wallace  4 , Xiaoyan Leng  2 , Lawrence S Phillips  5 , Jennifer G Robinson  4 , Jane M Kotchen  6 , Karen C Johnson  7 , JoAnn E Manson  8 , Marcia L Stefanick  9 , Gloria E Sarto  10 , W Jerry Mysiw  11
Affiliations
Randomized Controlled Trial

Sleep duration, cognitive decline, and dementia risk in older women

Jiu-Chiuan Chen et al. Alzheimers Dement. 2016 Jan.

Abstract

Introduction: Consistent evidence linking habitual sleep duration with risks of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and dementia is lacking.

Methods: We conducted a prospective study on 7444 community-dwelling women (aged 65-80 y) with self-reported sleep duration, within the Women's Health Initiative Memory Study in 1995-2008. Incident MCI/dementia cases were ascertained by validated protocols. Cox models were used to adjust for multiple sociodemographic and lifestyle factors, depression, cardiovascular disease (CVD), and other clinical characteristics.

Results: We found a statistically significant (P = .03) V-shaped association with a higher MCI/dementia risk in women with either short (≤6 hours/night) or long (≥8 hours/night) sleep duration (vs. 7 hours/night). The multicovariate-adjusted hazard for MCI/dementia was increased by 36% in short sleepers irrespective of CVD, and by 35% in long sleepers without CVD. A similar V-shaped association was found with cognitive decline.

Discussion: In older women, habitual sleep duration predicts the future risk for cognitive impairments including dementia, independent of vascular risk factors.

Keywords: Cognition; Cognitive decline; Cohort studies; Dementia; Elderly; Longitudinal analysis; Mild cognitive impairment; Sleep duration.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest or competing financial interests in conjunction with publishing this scientific work.

All the other authors declared no conflicts of interest, including specific financial interests and relationships and affiliations relevant to the subject of submitted manuscript.

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