The Relationship between Sleep Complaints, Depression, and Executive Functions on Older Adults

Abstract

Aim: In this manuscript, we report data on the association between executive functions screened by Frontal Assessment Battery, Five Digit Test and Digit Span with self-reported depressive symptoms and sleep complaints in non-demented older adults.Methods: A total sample of 95 non-demented older adults performed Geriatric Depression Scale short version, Frontal Assessment Battery, Five Digit Test, Digit Span, and clinical interview. We split participants in groups stratified by age according to: young-old (60–69 years of age), old-old (70–79 years), and oldest-old (>80 years) and compared these three groups on the sociodemographic characteristics and executive functions performance. We carried out Poisson regression with robust error variance to verify sleep complaints and depression effects on executive functions performance. Gender, age, years of formal education, use of antidepressants and of benzodiazepines were considered as confounding variables, taking into account executive functions as dependent and sleep complaints and depression as independent variables.Results: Controlling the effect of age, gender, years of formal education, use of benzodiazepines and of antidepressants there was a significant influence of depression in motor programming, inhibitory control, and working memory. Individuals without depression show motor programming scores 68.4% higher, inhibitory control scores 3 times greater and working memory scores also 3 times greater than individuals without depression. There was a significant influence of sleep complaints in phonemic fluency, motor programming, inhibitory control, and working memory. Individuals without sleep complaints show phonemic fluency scores 2 times greater than, motor programming scores 85.9% higher, inhibitory control scores 3 times greater and working memory scores also 3 times greater than individuals without sleep complaints.Conclusions: Sleep complaints are associated with phonemic fluency, motor programming, inhibitory control, and working memory impairment. Depression symptoms presence are associated with motor programming and working memory performances. Depression and sleep complaints interaction would determine worse phonemic fluency, inhibitory control and working memory cognitive performance than these two conditions alone.

Neuro-Cognitive Effects of Acute Tyrosine Administration on Reactive and Proactive Response Inhibition in Healthy Older Adults

“…However, looking at the scatter plots, it seems that the detrimental effects of tyrosine administration on proactive inhibitory responses in brain and behavior were especially apparent in the middle-old, sometimes referred to as old-old, group (70–79 years) relative to the young-old (60–69 years) participants. This is in accordance with the sub-group definition by some authors (Forman et al, 1992; de Almondes et al, 2016), although others have defined young-old individuals as 65-74 years old (Zizza et al, 2009; Moon et al, 2018) . In either definition, most of our participants were in the young-old group.…”

Sleep disorders in the elderly: a growing challenge

“…It is well documented that anxiety and depression are common in the aged population . Depression in aged subjects can lead to adverse outcomes, including impairment in executive functions, medical illnesses, disability, increased mortality, and increased health services utilization . Accelerated age‐related changes in sleep architecture may be linked to depressed mood in older adults .…”

Commentary: The Relationship between Sleep Complaints, Depression, and Executive Functions on Older Adults

“…To conclude, the study of de Almondes et al (2016) highlight the presence of an association between poor sleep, depressive symptoms and executive functioning in older adults. Results appear promising, although replication studies are needed that address also the issue of the reciprocal influence between sleep quality, depressive symptoms severity and executive functioning using a clearer definition of sleep complaints and valid and reliable instruments for their assessment.…”

“…Nevertheless, to date few studies investigated the relationships between these three variables. The present commentary aims to draw attention to some factors that may be considered for advancing knowledge in this field, starting from findings reported by de Almondes et al (2016) in the article recently published in “Frontiers in Psychology.”…”

“…In that paper, de Almondes et al (2016) examined older adults without major medical or psychiatric illnesses, who underwent a neuropsychological assessment including tasks measuring core executive functions of inhibitory control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. Presence of depressive symptoms and sleep complaints was also assessed through self-reported measures.…”