Sleep and Cognition: Results From a Longitudinal Cohort of Older Puerto Rican Adults

We examined cross-sectional and prospective associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with measures of cognitive function among older adults aged 45-75 y from the Boston Puerto Rican Health Study, a longitudinal cohort of 1500 participants of Puerto Rican ancestry. We found, statistically significant cross-sectional associations of sleep duration (hours) and an executive function domain before (F=6.20; Prob>F=0.0001) and after (F=2.33; Prob>F=0.05) controlling for covariates (age, sex, education, smoking, drinking, mental and health conditions and medication use); between sleep duration and global cognition before (F=5.38; Prob>F=0.0003) and a trend after controlling for covariates (F=2.20; Prob>F=0.0669). In longitudinal associations, sleep duration (time2) was significantly associated with global condition at time3 (F=2.42; Prob>F=0.0475) after controlling for time2 global cognition. In conclusion, we found hours of sleep and insomnia symptoms significantly associated with various cognitive factors. A public health focus on sleep hygiene may improve cognitive health outcomes in older Puerto Rican adults.

Effects of cognitive behavioral therapy for insomnia on subjective and objective measures of sleep and cognition

Study Objectives: To assess the effects of Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for insomnia (CBTi) on subjective and objective sleep, sleep-state misperception as well as self-reported and objective cognitive performance. Methods: We performed a randomized controlled trial with a treatment group and a wait-list control group to assess changes in insomnia symptoms after CBTi (8 sessions/3 months) in 62 participants with chronic insomnia. To this end, we conducted a multimodal investigation of sleep and cognition including subjective measures of sleep difficulties (Insomnia Severity Index (ISI), sleep diaries) and cognitive functioning (Sahlgrenska Academy Self-reported Cognitive Impairment Questionnaire), objective assessments of sleep (polysomnography recording, cognition (attention and working memory tasks), and sleep-state misperception measures, collected at baseline and at 3-months post-randomization. At 6 months post-randomization, we collected similar data from the wait-list group after CBTi. We also assessed ISI one year after CBTi in both groups. Our main analysis investigated changes in sleep and cognition after 3 months (treatment versus wait-list group). In secondary analyses, we pooled data from both groups to observe changes after CBTi. Results: ISI score was reduced and self-reported sleep quality improved after CBTi (treatment group at 3 months and pooled groups after CBTi). Sleep misperception in sleep onset latency and sleep duration decreased after CBTi. In contrast, objective sleep, objective and subjective cognitive functioning did not improve after CBTi. Conclusions: We showed that CBTi has a beneficial effect on variables pertaining to the subjective perception of sleep, which is a central feature of insomnia. However, we observed no significant effect of CBTi on measures of cognitive functioning.

Access to Daylight and Views Improves Physical and Emotional Wellbeing of Office Workers: A Crossover Study

While buildings are designed with expansive windows to allow for abundant daylight and views, in practice, they are frequently occluded to control for heat and glare. Electrochromic glass windows are a solution designed to maximize occupant access to daylight and views throughout the day, and previous research has demonstrated the benefits they can impart on sleep and cognition. We extend this research to quantify its impacts on the perceived physical and emotional wellbeing of occupants in an office environment. 30 office workers spent 5 days working in each of two West-facing offices that were identical with the exception of the window treatment: one with dynamic electrochromic windows and the other with functionally standard windows partially occluded by a fixed roller shade. When working in the office with electrochromic glass, participants were 8-fold more likely of report satisfaction with daylight conditions and 6.5-fold more likely to report satisfaction with views of the outside, were 48% less likely to report eyestrain, perceived a significant benefit to positive affect and were 77% less likely to report feeling depressed. This study adds to the growing body of research demonstrating the importance of daylighting strategies in designing spaces that support the physical and mental health of occupants.

Sleep, Cognition and Cortisol in Addison’s Disease: A Mechanistic Relationship

Sleep is a critical biological process, essential for cognitive well-being. Neuroscientific literature suggests there are mechanistic relations between sleep disruption and memory deficits, and that varying concentrations of cortisol may play an important role in mediating those relations. Patients with Addison’s disease (AD) experience consistent and predictable periods of sub- and supra-physiological cortisol concentrations due to lifelong glucocorticoid replacement therapy, and they frequently report disrupted sleep and impaired memory. These disruptions and impairments may be related to the failure of replacement regimens to restore a normal circadian rhythm of cortisol secretion. Available data provides support for existing theoretical frameworks which postulate that in AD and other neuroendocrine, neurological, or psychiatric disorders, disrupted sleep is an important biological mechanism that underlies, at least partially, the memory impairments that patients frequently report experiencing. Given the literature linking sleep disruption and cognitive impairment in AD, future initiatives should aim to improve patients’ cognitive performance (and, indeed, their overall quality of life) by prioritizing and optimizing sleep. This review summarizes the literature on sleep and cognition in AD, and the role that cortisol concentrations play in the relationship between the two.

A rapid and reliable multiplexed LC-MS/MS method for simultaneous analysis of six monoamines from brain tissues

Monoamines are a class of neuromodulators that are crucial for a variety of brain functions, including control of mood, movement, sleep and cognition. From mammals to insects, the nervous system is enriched in monoamines such as dopamine, serotonin and melatonin, analytes which range from being highly polar to non-polar. Here we developed a method using liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (LC-MS) to quantify in a single run the amounts of six distinct monoamines in extracts from dissected Drosophila and mouse brain tissues. The measured monoamines were dopamine (DA), serotonin (also known as 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT)), octopamine (OA, an insect equivalent of norepinephrine), tyramine (TA), melatonin (MT) and N-acetyl-hydroxy-serotonin (NAS). The analytical range of these monoamines was between 0.25 to 5.0 ng/mL.

OP0215 MENTAL HEALTH, SLEEP AND COGNITION CHARACTERISTICS IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS AND ASSOCIATIONS WITH RHEUMATOID FACTOR STATUS IN THE UK BIOBANK

Background:There are significant gaps in the literature regarding sleep, mental health, and cognition for people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) despite being important aspects of patients’ overall quality of life. Similarly, there is a lack of understanding about the role of rheumatoid factor (RF) on these domains.Objectives:The aim of the current study was to characterize mental health, cognition, and sleep variables in people with RA and to compare these associations in people with positive RF (RF+) and negative RF (RF-) in a large population cohort.Methods:This cross-sectional study used baseline data from the UK Biobank cohort (n= 502,506) to compare people with and without RA and people that are RF+ versus RF- on a variety of sociodemographic, lifestyle, illness-related factors and depression, neuroticism, performance on cognitive tests and sleep-related factors. Logistic regression analyses were also performed to determine whether RF seropositivity was associated with mental health, cognition, and sleep variables. We adjusted for the covariates of age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation index, smoking status, BMI and alcohol intake.Results:In this sample 5,907 people self-reported having RA (1.17%), of which 74% were RF- and 26% were RF+. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between people with and without RA for depression, neuroticism, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, reaction time, fluid intelligence and prospective memory. There were significant differences (p < 0.05) between RF+ and RF- people for depression, neuroticism, sleep duration, nap during the day, getting up in the morning, insomnia, and reaction time. In the unadjusted regression analyses neuroticism (B=-0.06, SE= 0.01, p < 0.001), sleep duration (B=0.02, SE= 0.005, p < 0.001), nap during the day (OR=1.28, 95% CI: 1.02-1.65, p < 0.05) and reaction time (B=4.55, SE=0.53, p< 0.001) were significantly associated with RF status. After adjusting for covariates, only sleep duration (B=0.01, SE=0.005, p< 0.01) remained significant.Conclusion:The current study suggests that RA diagnosis and RF status are associated with differences in mental health, sleep, and cognition, highlighting the importance of addressing these aspects in clinical settings and future research.Disclosure of Interests:None declared

Positive effect of timed blue-enriched white light on sleep and cognition in patients with mild and moderate Alzheimer’s disease

Conflicting results have been reported regarding the effectiveness of light treatment (LT) in patients with Alzheimer’s disease (AD). We investigated the effectiveness of blue-enriched white LT on sleep, cognition, mood and behavior in patients with mild and moderate AD. The treatment group (n = 14) sat about 60 cm away from a small (136 × 73 × 16 mm) LED light box for 1 h each morning for 2 weeks. The control group (n = 11) wore dark, blue-attenuating sunglasses during the 1 h exposures. The morning light started 9–10 h after each individual’s dim light melatonin onset (DLMO). Assessments were done at baseline (T0), immediate post-treatment (T1), and 4 weeks after the end of the 2 weeks of LT (T2). Sleep was measured by actigraphy. Blue-enriched LT had a significantly better effect on the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index at T2 compared to blue-attenuated LT, and a trend of better effectiveness on total sleep time at T2. There was a significant increase in Mini-Mental State Examination score at T2 after blue-enriched LT than that at T0. Our findings suggest that morning blue-enriched LT has a benefit in improving sleep and cognitive function in AD patients.