Macro and micro sleep architecture and cognitive performance in older adults

Authors: DJONLAGIC, INA - Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center; MARIANI, SARA - Brigham & Women'S Hospital; FITZPATRICK, ANNETTE - University Of Washington; VAN DER KLEI, VEERLE - Brigham & Women'S Hospital; JOHNSON, DAYNA - Emory University; WOOD, ALEXIS - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC); SEEMAN, TERESA - University Of California (UCLA); NGUYEN, HA - Wake Forest School Of Medicine; PRERAU, MICHAEL - Brigham & Women'S Hospital; LUCHSINGER, JOSE - Columbia University - New York; DZIERZEWSKI, JOSEPH - Virginia Commonwealth University; RAPP, STEVE - Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center; TRANAH, GREGORY - California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute; YAFFE, KRISTINE - University Of California; BURDICK, KATHERINE - Brigham & Women'S Hospital; STONE, KATIE - California Pacific Medical Center Research Institute; REDLINE, SUSAN - Brigham & Women'S Hospital; PURCELL, SHAUN - Brigham & Women'S Hospital

Submitted to: Nature Human Behaviour
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 9/15/2020
Publication Date: 11/16/2020
Citation: Djonlagic, I., Mariani, S., Fitzpatrick, A.L., Van Der Klei, V., Johnson, D.A., Wood, A.C., Seeman, T., Nguyen, H.T., Prerau, M.J., Luchsinger, J.A., Dzierzewski, J., Rapp, S.R., Tranah, G.J., Yaffe, K., Burdick, K.E., Stone, K., Redline, S., Purcell, S.M. 2020. Macro and micro sleep architecture and cognitive performance in older adults. Nature Human Behaviour. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00964-y.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-020-00964-y

Interpretive Summary: Short sleep duration and poor sleep quality are risk factors for the development of obesity, but why this is the case is not well understood. One emerging explanation is that poorer and/or shorter sleep contributes to cognitive decline which in turn, reduces individuals' ability to self-regulate their food intake. However, which aspects of sleep are linked to cognitive decline is not well understood. In these analyses, we identified 22 sleep measures which predicted cognitive performance. These cognitive performance indices were embedded brain networks linked to poorer health outcomes, such as obesity, aging and cardiometabolic disease. This study suggests that improving sleep duration and quality may reduce obesity risk, via reducing the risk of cognitive decline.

Technical Abstract: We sought to determine which facets of sleep neurophysiology were most strongly linked to cognitive performance in 3,819 older adults from two independent cohorts, using whole-night electroencephalography. From over 150 objective sleep metrics, we identified 23 that predicted cognitive performance, and processing speed in particular, with effects that were broadly independent of gross changes in sleep quality and quantity. These metrics included rapid eye movement duration, features of the electroencephalography power spectra derived from multivariate analysis, and spindle and slow oscillation morphology and coupling. These metrics were further embedded within broader associative networks linking sleep with aging and cardiometabolic disease: individuals who, compared with similarly aged peers, had better cognitive performance tended to have profiles of sleep metrics more often seen in younger, healthier individuals. Taken together, our results point to multiple facets of sleep neurophysiology that track coherently with underlying, age-dependent determinants of cognitive and physical health trajectories in older adults.