Sleep-Wake Disturbances and Episodic Memory in Older Adults

Abstract

<jats:p> Sleep-wake disturbances have been associated with episodic memory loss, but past studies were limited by use of single measures of objective or perceived disturbances. Notably, cognitive reserve and depressive symptoms have been associated with sleep-wake disturbances and poorer episodic memory in older adults. The aims of this study were to determine the relationship between episodic memory and sleep-wake disturbances using objective and perceived measures in older adults and to examine cognitive reserve and depressive symptoms as moderators of this relationship. In this descriptive study, 62 healthy older adults (mean age: 69.9 years; 75.8% women) were recruited from the University of Michigan Clinical Research Program. Objective sleep-wake disturbances were measured by 7-day actigraphy and perceived sleep-wake disturbances by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Episodic memory was measured by the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised. Analyses involved Pearson’s correlation coefficients and hierarchical multiple regression. Results showed that more objectively measured sleep disruption was associated with poorer episodic memory and more perceived daytime sleepiness was associated with better episodic memory. Cognitive reserve and depressive symptoms were not moderators of this relationship. In this study, the relationship between sleep-wake disturbances and episodic memory differed by type of measure, objective or perceived. Future studies are needed using multiple measures of episodic memory to further understand the sleep-wake disturbances and episodic memory relationship in a larger diverse sample of healthy older adults. </jats:p>

The effect of incontinence on sleep quality in the elderly

“…As stated in the literature, incontinence is a problem that increases in frequency with advancing age and affects individuals in many dimensions. 35 Individuals who experience incontinence think that this can be noticed from the outside and they see themselves as defective and incomplete. While individuals have problems such as smell, cleanliness, skin irritation on the one hand, they may also experience different emotional disorders such as embarrassment, deterioration in body image, anxiety, depression and social isolation.…”

“…These findings are similar to the results obtained in the present study. As stated in the literature, incontinence is a problem that increases in frequency with advancing age and affects individuals in many dimensions 35 …”

Actigraphic and Self-reported Sleep Measures in Older Adults: Factor Analytic Study

“…Among this sample, 75.8% were female, 87% were White, and 90% had a bachelor's degree or higher with 18.2 mean educational years. More detailed information about the demographic characteristics of the sample can be found in Yeh et al (2020). One-third of participants had hypertension or hyperlipidemia and only six of the participants took over-the-counter medications (i.e., melatonin or diphenhydramine) for sleep.…”

Effect of cognitive reserve on the association between slow wave sleep and cognition in community-dwelling older adults

“…However, there are inconsistent results as well, which may also be due to methodological differences. For instance, in the study by Yeh et al [ 32 ] assessing the association between sleep latency or wake after sleep onset and episodic memory, the CR proxy used was a reading/pronunciation score for increasingly unfamiliar and phonologically difficult words, which was less common than the measures used in the other studies and potentially influenced by various cognitive processes making this test a more biased proxy of CR. Finally, to the best of our knowledge, no study to date has evaluated the potential modulation of the relationship between sleep disturbances and cognition using both polysomnography, the gold-standard for objective measurement of sleep, and questionnaires capturing the complexity and richness of CR throughout life.…”