Elderly women suffering from sleep-disordered breathing have an increased risk of developing cognitive impairment or dementia, finds a new study published in the August 10 Journal of the American Medical Association.

一項發(fā)表在8月10日美國醫(yī)學(xué)協(xié)會雜志上的研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，患有睡眠呼吸性障礙的老年婦女得認(rèn)知障礙和癡呆癥的風(fēng)險更高。

The researchers noted that cognitive issues identified during the prospective study appear to be associated with hypoxia rather than with the quality and duration of sleep. 

研究人員指出，在前瞻性研究中被證明認(rèn)知障礙的發(fā)生似乎是與缺氧有關(guān)，而與睡眠質(zhì)量和時間無關(guān)。

“This study illustrates the importance of detecting breathing-related sleep disorders in older adults,” said Charles Reynolds III, M.D., chair of APA's DSM-V Sleep-Wake Disorders Work Group and a professor of psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. “We have also noticed that many older adults with depression and cognitive impairment often have a breathing-related sleep disorder, which, if treated appropriately, can help improve both cognition and mood.” 

“這項研究說明了研究呼吸性睡眠障礙對于老年人的重要性，”查理斯-雷諾茲三世說到，這位醫(yī)學(xué)博士是美國精神科學(xué)會《精神疾病診斷與統(tǒng)計手冊》睡眠障礙工作組的負(fù)責(zé)人、匹茨堡大學(xué)精神病學(xué)的教授。“我們也同樣注意到許多患有抑郁癥和認(rèn)知障礙的老年人通常都有呼吸性睡眠障礙，如果能夠治療得當(dāng)，這一發(fā)現(xiàn)有助于改善病人的認(rèn)知和情緒。” 

For the study, a team of researchers led by Kristine Yaffe, M.D., of the University of California, San Francisco's departments of Psychiatry, Neurology, and Epidemiology collected baseline data from in-home, unattended polysomnography tests. The team's sleep and cognition study pooled participants from an existing multisite study of community-dwelling older women. 

關(guān)于此項研究，由美國加州大學(xué)醫(yī)學(xué)博士、舊金山VA醫(yī)學(xué)研究中心老年精神科主任克里斯汀·亞夫博士帶領(lǐng)的研究團(tuán)隊，對來自各個家庭的自動化多頻道睡眠記錄測試基線數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行了收集。該團(tuán)隊對睡眠和認(rèn)知的研究對象主要來源于現(xiàn)居住于各個小區(qū)的老年婦女。

Over a period of approximately five years, the participants were given neuropsychological tests to assess their cognitive status. Ultimately, the researchers evaluated data collected on 298 women, more than 35 percent of whom were identified as suffering from sleep-disordered breathing. A majority of the participants (more than 90 percent) were white, and their mean age was 82.3. 

經(jīng)過將近五年的時間，研究的參與者進(jìn)行了神經(jīng)心理學(xué)測試，從而評估她們的認(rèn)知狀況。最終，研究人員對來自298位婦女的數(shù)據(jù)進(jìn)行了評估，她們當(dāng)中超過35%的人被證明患有呼吸性睡眠障礙。大多數(shù)的參與者(超過90%)是白種人，她們的平均年齡是82.3歲。

While the baseline data revealed no significant difference in the cognitive functioning between the cohorts with and without existing sleep-disordered breathing, nearly 36 percent of the participants ended up developing either mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Approximately 45 percent of the women identified as having “prevalent sleep-disordered breathing” developed mild cognitive impairment or dementia compared with approximately 31 percent of those exhibiting normal nighttime breathing. 

盡管這些基線數(shù)據(jù)沒有揭示出在認(rèn)知功能方面患有睡眠呼吸性障礙者和未患者的重大差異，但是參與者中有36%左右的人最終要么是輕度認(rèn)知障礙，要么是老年癡呆。 相對于那些31%左右睡眠呼吸正常的人而言，那些將近45%的患有普遍睡眠呼吸性障礙的婦女被證明更容易發(fā)展成輕度認(rèn)知障礙和老年癡呆。 

Since the study findings demonstrated a consistent correlation between hypoxia measures and the subsequent development of cognitive impairment, the researchers suggested that further investigation of continuous positive air pressure (CPAP) treatment be undertaken. According to the researchers, earlier studies have shown CPAP to be effective in slowing or even improving the cognitive impairment of Alzheimer's patients with sleep-disordered breathing, as well as in improving the cognitive functioning of those suffering from sleep apnea. 

由于研究結(jié)果表明缺氧治療和認(rèn)知障礙的后續(xù)發(fā)展之間存在著一致相關(guān)性，研究人員建議進(jìn)行進(jìn)一步的持續(xù)性正壓治療的調(diào)查。據(jù)研究人員介紹，早期的研究已經(jīng)顯示出CAPA治療方法對于延緩甚至改善因睡眠呼吸性障礙所引起的認(rèn)知障礙是有效的，同時也較好地改善了睡眠呼吸暫?；颊叩恼J(rèn)知功能。

Yaffe and her team recommended that further studies looking into the connection between sleep-disordered breathing and cognitive impairment should involve “larger sample sizes, longer treatment periods, and more diverse populations.”

亞夫博士和她的團(tuán)隊建議下一步進(jìn)行睡眠呼吸性障礙和認(rèn)知障礙相關(guān)性的調(diào)查應(yīng)該“增大樣本量、延長治療期、針對更廣泛的人群。”