- Researchers investigated the link between sleep apnea, brain volume, amyloid-beta deposits, and memory.
- They found that among people with sleep apnea, amyloid-positive individuals are more vulnerable to loss in brain volume and poorer scores on memory tests than their amyloid-negative counterparts.
- Further studies are needed to understand what these findings mean for dementia pathology and potential treatments.
Sleep apnea is a sleep disorder that involves repeated stopping and starting of breathing during sleep, which can lead to low oxygen levels.
Studies show that sleep apnea may
Research also shows that sleep apnea may
Gaining more insight into how sleep apnea affects brain volume is crucial for understanding more about the condition and its possible treatment avenues.
Recently, researchers investigated the link between sleep apnea severity, amyloid beta status, and brain volume in cognitively asymptomatic older adults.
They found that sleep apnea is linked to medial temporal lobe atrophy in adults with beta-amyloid buildup and that sleep apnea may increase their risk of memory impairment over time.
The study was published in Neurology.
For the study, the researchers recruited 122 cognitively asymptotic individuals with an average age of 69 years old.
To begin, they underwent a memory test, an at-home overnight sleep examination, and brain imaging, including an MRI scan and an amyloid PET scan. Memory tests were repeated an average of 21 months later.
The researchers noted that among the participants, 33 carried the ApoE4 gene — a genetic risk factor for AD — and 26 were amyloid-positive at…
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