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Prolonged sleep may predict dementia risk

Prolonged sleep duration was associated with increased risk for dementia, according to recent findings.

“Self-reported sleep duration may be a useful clinical tool to help predict persons at risk of progressing to clinical dementia within 10 years. Persons reporting long sleep time may warrant assessment and monitoring for problems with thinking and memory,” study researcher Matthew Pase, PhD, of Boston University School of Medicine, said in a press release.

To assess associations between sleep duration and risk for dementia and brain aging, researchers analyzed self-reported total hours of sleep in the Framingham Heart Study (n = 2,457).

During 10 years of follow-up, 234 participants developed all-cause dementia.

Multivariable analyses indicated prolonged sleep duration was associated with an increased risk for incident dementia (HR = 2.01; 95% CI, 1.24-3.26).

This association was driven by individuals with baseline mild cognitive impairment (HR = 2.83; 95% CI, 1.06-7.55) and those without a high school degree (HR = 6.05; 95% CI, 3-12.18).

Transitioning to sleeping more than 9 hours over a mean of 13 years before baseline was associated with increased risk for all-cause dementia (HR = 2.43; 95% CI, 1.44-4.11) and clinical Alzheimer’s disease (HR = 2.2; 95% CI, 1.17-4.13).

Compared with sleeping 6 to 9 hours, long sleep duration was cross-sectionally associated with smaller total cerebral brain volume and poorer executive function.

“Participants without a high school degree who sleep for more than 9 hours each night had six times the risk of developing dementia in 10 years as compared to participants who slept for less,” study researcher Sudha Seshadri, MD, of Boston University School of Medicine, said in a press release. “These results suggest that being highly educated may protect against dementia in the presence of long sleep duration.” – by Amanda Oldt

Disclosure: Pase and Seshadri report no relevant financial disclosures. Please see the study for a full list of relevant financial disclosures.