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. 2022 Jan 20;14(1):12.
doi: 10.1186/s13195-021-00952-y.

Complaints of daytime sleepiness, insomnia, hypnotic use, and risk of dementia: a prospective cohort study in the elderly

Clémence Cavaillès  1 , Claudine Berr  1 , Catherine Helmer  2 , Audrey Gabelle  1   3 , Isabelle Jaussent  1 , Yves Dauvilliers  4   5
Affiliations

Complaints of daytime sleepiness, insomnia, hypnotic use, and risk of dementia: a prospective cohort study in the elderly

Clémence Cavaillès et al. Alzheimers Res Ther. .

Abstract

Background: Sleep disturbances are common in elderly and occur frequently in dementia. The impact of excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS), insomnia complaints, sleep quality, and hypnotics on the risk of all-cause dementia, Alzheimer disease (AD), and dementia with vascular component (DVC) remains unclear, as does the association between sleep profile and plasma β-amyloid levels.

Methods: Analyses were carried out on 6851 participants aged 65 years and over randomly recruited from three French cities and free of dementia at baseline. A structured interview and self-questionnaire assessed sleep complaints (EDS, insomnia complaints, sleep quality) and medications at baseline. Incident cases of dementia were diagnosed systematically over a 12-year period. Multivariate Cox models were used to estimate the risk of dementia associated with the sleep complaints considered individually and globally. Plasma β-amyloid levels were measured by an xMAP-based assay technology in 984 subjects.

Results: After adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics, lifestyle, APOE-ε4, cardiovascular factors, and depressive status, EDS had a higher risk of all-cause dementia (HR = 1.21; 95%CI = [1.01-1.46]) and DVC (HR = 1.58; 95%CI = [1.07-2.32]) but not AD. Persistent use of hypnotics increased the risk for all-cause dementia, specifically AD (HR = 1.28; 95%CI = [1.04-1.58]), but not DVC. No association was found for insomnia complaints and sleep quality taken as individual factors or combined with EDS on the risk of dementia. No association was found between β-amyloid, sleep complaints, and incident dementia.

Conclusions: The results suggest a deleterious role of EDS and hypnotics on dementia. Further studies are required to elucidate the mechanisms involved in these associations and whether its management can prevent the risk of dementia.

Keywords: Alzheimer; Cohort studies; Dementia; Elderly; Epidemiology; Hypnotic use; Insomnia complaints; Sleepiness.

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Conflict of interest statement

CC, CB, CH, AG, and IJ declare that they have no competing interests. YD participated in advisory board for UCB Pharma, Jazz, Theranexus, Avadel, Idorsia, and Bioprojet, outside the submitted work.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Flow chart of the sample. This figure represents the sample selection for the analysis of excessive daytime sleepiness, insomnia complaints and hypnotic use, and the risk of dementia
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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