Sleep electroencephalography (EEG) is linked with cognitive function and dementia risk. Integrated EEG-derived scores, such as the Brain Health Score (BHS), trained to jointly reflect cognitive function and disease risk, and the Brain Age Index (BAI), which estimates brain aging, also correlate with neuropsychological (NP) performance. Yet, it remains unclear whether these sleep scores are associated with the rate of future cognitive decline.
This study included 639 Framingham Heart Study Generation 2 and Omni 1 participants with sleep EEG in mid-to-late life and ≥2 NP tests over an average of 14.3 years. Linear mixed effects models estimated associations between BHS and annual changes in memory, executive function, or language. We also evaluated associations between BAI and cognitive decline among 509 Generation 2 participants with BAI values.
Participants were on average 58.4 years at sleep assessment, 54% female, and 86% non-Hispanic White. Each 1-SD higher BHS was associated with 0.015 SD/year slower memory decline (95% CI: 0.009-0.021), 0.009 SD/year slower executive function decline (95% CI: 0.005-0.014), and 0.011 SD/year slower language decline (95% CI: 0.005-0.017). In contrast, BAI was not associated with changes in any cognitive domain.
Higher sleep EEG–derived brain health in mid-to-late life was associated with slower decline in multiple cognitive domains over more than a decade of follow-up, whereas an EEG-based measure of brain aging was not. These findings suggest that sleep EEG-derived, data-driven brain health metrics may have value as novel biomarkers for risk of cognitive decline.
Francesca R Marino, W. Ganglberger, Haoqi Sun et al.· SLEEP Advances· 0 citations
BACKGROUND
Physical activity (PA) may help to delay or possibly prevent cognitive decline and dementia. However, few studies have adopted a life-course approach to prospectively examine repeated measures of PA in relation to cognitive decline.
METHODS
Framingham Heart Study Offspring and Omni 1 participants without prevalent dementia who had ≥3 self-reported PA measures and ≥2 cognitive domain factor score measures were included (n = 2229). Memory, executive function, and language factor scores were previously derived using bifactor confirmatory factor analysis models. Group-based multitrajectory models characterized PA patterns over the adult life-course (ages 17-96 y). Linear mixed-effects models estimated annual changes in cognitive domain factor scores across PA trajectory groups over the same time period.
RESULTS
We identified 4 PA trajectories: (1) stabilizers: decline from early adulthood through midlife and then stable after age 50 (n = 176), (2) decliners: constant decline over adulthood (n = 526), (3) reversers: increase from early adulthood through midlife and then decline after age 70 (n = 1145), and (4) plummeters: slow decline from early adulthood through midlife and then sharp decline after age 75 (n = 382; reference). Compared with the reference group, stabilizers had 0.012 SD/year (95% CI, 0.004-0.02) slower memory decline, 0.012 SD/year (95% CI, 0.005-0.02) slower executive function decline, and 0.015 SD/year (95% CI, 0.007-0.02) slower language decline. Decliners had slower cognitive decline across all domains, and reversers had slower language decline.
CONCLUSIONS
Our findings suggest that sustaining PA in mid-to-late life and preventing later life declines may help mitigate cognitive decline with aging.
Francesca R Marino, Huitong Ding, Honghuang Lin et al.· Journal of Physical Activity...· 0 citations