Sleep Apnea: A New Cause Linked to Dementia

Highlights:

Research explains link between sleep apnea and dementia
Sleep apnea can cause you to have poor sleep quality leading to low oxygen in brain
Low Oxygen in Brain can put you at risk for dementia

Your breathing might stop and start again and you may not have realized it, this happens when you have a condition called sleep apnea, and recent findings have linked sleep and dementia.

This Research was conducted at The University of Queensland where it was discovered that obstructive sleep apnea can increase the risk of developing dementia.

Professor Elizabeth Coulson and her team found a unique relationship between a lack of oxygen to the brain during sleep and Alzheimer’s disease in laboratory mice.

“We found sleep deprivation alone in mice caused only mild cognitive impairment,” Professor Coulson said. “But we developed a novel way to induce sleep-disrupted breathing and found the mice displayed exacerbated pathological features of Alzheimer’s disease. “It demonstrated that hypoxia – when the brain is deprived of oxygen – caused the same selective degeneration of neurons that characteristically die in dementia.”

Professor Coulson indicated that the next step would be to determine what levels of hypoxia can cause brain degeneration in humans. “It’s estimated around 50 per cent of elderly people have obstructive sleep apnea, when their throat muscles intermittently collapse and block the airway during sleep causing their breathing to stop and start,” she said.

The current gold standard treatment is a CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, which keeps the airway open during sleep and allows oxygen to the brain. “We couldn’t fit CPAP to mice, but we experimentally prevented the hypoxia and this stopped the cognitive impairment and neuron death, and also reduced the Alzheimer’s pathology,” Professor Coulson said. “This suggests that CPAP treatment of obstructive sleep apnea has the potential to reduce dementia risk.”

Professor Coulson said the findings could change the way dementia clinicians diagnose and treat their patients. “Thirty per cent of people with obstructive sleep apnea being fitted for CPAP machines already display signs of dementia-like cognitive impairment,” she said. “Unfortunately, the hospital system isn’t referring those people to dementia clinics. “Some dementia clinicians have reported their patient’s memory has improved after their sleep problems were identified and treated.”

Professor Coulson clearly stated that not everyone with obstructive sleep apnea would get dementia. “But we need to define the ‘at risk’ population,” she said. “Early stage human trials are underway with sleep clinicians in Brisbane and Sydney to determine the correlation between hypoxia and sustained cognitive impairment, and whether CPAP can reduce dementia risk. “I would strongly recommend anyone with obstructive sleep apnea use a CPAP machine to maintain cognitive function, as well as assist with other health issues.”

Dementia - Types, Causes, Symptoms, Diagnosis, Treatment
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‘Sleep apnea can cause you to have low quality of sleep, triggering dementia including Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.’

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Does Sleep Apnea have the Potential to Trigger all Types of Dementia?

Sleep apnea is potentially a modifiable risk factor for dementia and with the recent discovery, the cause of this has been established. As per a recent A systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies that investigated the association between sleep apnea and dementia, including Alzheimer's disease (AD), Parkinson's disease (PD), Lewy body dementia (LBD), vascular dementia (VaD), and frontotemporal dementia (FTD) it was established that sleep apnea can place you at the risk of dementia, particularly Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer but does not have the potential to trigger any form of vascular dementia ().

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Sleep Apnea linked to other Co-morbidities

Almost 80% of people with sleep apoea are undiagnosed and this undiagnosed condition can push you into the ditch of co-morbidities. As per a retrospective study, it was established that sleep apnea has been linked with cardiovascular mortality and along with Other comorbidities such as depression, asthma, and GERD ().

Obstructive Sleep Apnea - Overview
Obstructive sleep apnea should be suspected in overweight middle aged adults who snore loudly and which can cause interruption of breathing for 10 seconds or more and this results in reduced blood o

How to Identify Symptoms and Signs of Sleep Apnea?

Loud snoring.
Episodes in which you stop breathing during sleep.
Gasping for air during sleep.
Awakening with a dry mouth.

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Are You Getting Enough of Quality Sleep?

At this point we all have probably heard that regular exercise and a heart-healthy diet are the most important things you can do for your health. As it turns out, though, the quality of sleep you receive is also critical to your well being.

In another research based study, it was established that less that 5 hours of sleep can put you at the risk of dementia and diabetes and when the quality of your sleep reduces you are at a higher risk of various co-morbidities ().

Can we Treat Sleep Apnea ?

The first line of therapy is a breathing device called a CPAP, or continuous positive airway pressure machine. A CPAP machine pipes humidified air through the nose, which creates air pressure to keep your throat open while asleep. This prevents pauses in breathing. Lifestyle changes can also help in preventing sleep apnea ().

If you or your partner has noticed signs of sleep apnea, visit your doctor. A sleep specialist can order a sleep apnea test, and this condition can be caught at the earliest to prevent any further harm to the body

References :

Sleep Apnea and the risk of Dementia: A systematic review and meta-analysis - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35366021/)
Comorbidities Associated with Obstructive Sleep Apnea: a Retrospective Study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27096019/)
Association of sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 years with risk of multimorbidity in the UK: 25-year follow-up of the Whitehall II cohort study - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36256607/)
Treatment options for obstructive sleep apnea - (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29849228/)

Source-Medindia