SLEEP DISTURBANCES AND MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN THE ENGLISH LONGITUDINAL STUDY OF AGEING

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Recent scientific developments clearly indicate that sleep has an important effect on brain behaviour and function. In particular, it has very important effects on memory, co-ordination and executive functions. Furthermore, it is now known that there is a relationship between the severity of sleep disturbance and these functions of the brain in a number of different clinical conditions and it has been suggested that sleep disturbance may be an important early marker of progressive brain disorders such as Alzheimer's disease. As sleep disorders determine the severity and type of cognitive (brain) impairment in various brain-related disorders their diagnosis and treatment may slow disease progression. It is possible that sleep disorders may, therefore, be present and treatable in individuals with mild brain impairment. This is important as treatment may delay further progression from mild brain impairment to dementia, for example. It is therefore essential to develop tools to easily and accurately detect these individuals who are at greater risk. Our proposed study will assess the evidence for links between two types of mild brain impairments using data which has already been collected on a large group (N~10,000) of men and women over the age of 50 years from the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA) who self-report any sleep disturbances. The specific aims of our project are to explore the links between the quantity (i.e. duration) and quality of sleep in relation to the different types of mild brain impairment in individuals from the ELSA study. We will also explore which different social, behavioural and biochemical factors have an effect on these links. This will establish the baseline for future analyses of the causes of further decline in cognitive (brain) function that may occur in subsequent years and as individuals get older.