Amyloid plaque formations in the brain of a deceased Alzheimer’s patient. Wikimedia Commons, JensflorianDisturbed sleeping patterns could be a marker for the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, according to research presented this week (October 17) at the annual meeting of the Society for Neuroscience in New Orleans, Louisiana. The findings could lead to new ways to diagnose the condition and facilitate early identification of people at risk.
Alzheimer’s patients often experience changes to their sleep-wake cycles during the early stages of the disease. To find out if sleep disruption is linked to the development of Alzheimer’s, neuropsychologists at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, used sleep quality data from a survey of 14,600 healthy people age 50 or older to produce what they called a sleep disturbance index. They found that people who reported trouble with sleep-wake cycles—particularly disturbed sleep and tiredness during the day—were more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s within the next 2 years. Moreover, the severity of symptoms correlated with the severity of sleep disruption before diagnosis.
The results suggest that disturbed sleep could be an early marker for the brain changes that occur as the disease progresses—namely the ...
