Sleep apnea linked to memory decline, dementia


By GENEVRA PITTMAN, MB.COM.PH - NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Older women who have sleep apnea may be more likely to develop memory problems and dementia, according to a new study.

It's not clear yet whether treating the sleep apnea can help prevent that memory decline -- but researchers say future studies should address that question.

"It makes sense that good sleep is going to be protective to the brain," said Dr. Robert Thomas, who studies sleep at Harvard Medical School in Boston and was not involved in the new study.

But, he added, clear answers have been lacking on the link between problem sleeping and memory. "We simply don't have data to answer many of the simple questions people may have in the sleep clinic," he told Reuters Health.

To try to shrink that gap, Dr. Kristine Yaffe of the University of California, San Francisco and colleagues gave an overnight sleep apnea test to 298 women without dementia, who were an average of 82 years old. The test looks for changes in breathing and oxygen flow during the night, as well as for the short, frequent breaks in sleep that are signs of sleep apnea.

Just over a third of the women had sleep apnea -- which is especially common in older, overweight people.

About five years later, the researchers brought those same women in for a set of thinking and memory tests, and doctors evaluated any of the women who showed signs of memory decline.

In total, a little over a third (36 percent) of the women were diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Among women who had shown signs of sleep apnea on their overnight tests five years earlier, 45 percent had developed thinking and memory problems, compared to 31 percent of women who didn't have sleep problems.

When Yaffe and her colleagues took factors such as race, weight, and other diseases and medications into consideration, women with sleep apnea were almost twice as likely to test positive for cognitive impairment or dementia, according to findings published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Sleep apnea has also been linked to a host of other health problems, including high blood pressure and cholesterol. Researchers pointed to lower blood flow to the brain during sleep as a possible culprit in cognitive problems down the line.

Indeed, when the authors looked at the specific factors that went into a diagnosis of sleep apnea, they found that the lack of steady oxygen overnight was related to thinking and memory problems, not how much total sleep women got or how many times they woke up during the night.

Thomas said that not everyone with sleep apnea has symptoms, which include fatigue and snoring, and that people who are overweight or have heart and blood pressure diseases should also consider getting tested.

But researchers still don't know to what extent treatment -- which involves wearing a mask that delivers pressurized air from a "CPAP" machine to ease breathing at night -- can prevent the complications of sleep apnea, including cognitive decline.

"The single biggest hole in sleep apnea (research) is: what are the outcomes of treatment?" Thomas said.

Yaffe agreed. "That's obviously a next step and important question," she told Reuters Health.

Seva Polotsky, a sleep apnea researcher from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore, said it's important nonetheless that people with sleep apnea follow whatever treatment regimen their doctor recommends. Still, "there's only one cure for apnea so far we've found, and this is weight loss," he told Reuters Health.

People with sleep apnea should also try to be tested occasionally for signs of cognitive decline, Yaffe concluded.
By Kulas TV with 0 comments

0 comments:

Leave a Reply

TAGS

acne (4) Acupuncture (2) ADHD (1) Aerobics Cardio (2) Agriculture (3) Alkaline (1) Allergies (4) Aloe Vera Extract (1) Alternative (7) Alternative Medicine (13) Anti Aging (2) antioxidant (1) Arthritis (7) Asthma (4) Baby and Children's Health and Common Tips (3) Baby Tips (1) Back Pain (7) Basic Needs (3) beautiful (1) best fitness tip (3) Better Health (2) body fat (1) Bowling (6) Brain Function Disorders (2) By Dr. Robert Young (1) Caesar salad (1) Calorie Ice Cream (1) Cancer (8) Child Care and First Aid (3) Cleansing Diet (1) coffee (1) Colorful Fruit (4) Conditions Disabilities (1) Cook Organic (1) Cooking with Fresh Herbs (1) cosmetic (1) Dairy Beverages (2) detox herbs (1) Detoxification And Body Cleansing (8) Diabetes (24) Diet (15) dieting (1) Digestion (1) Digestive System (6) Disease alert (2) Diseases and Conditions (5) DRINKS (4) Environment (2) exercise (5) Eyes Vision (1) Fertility (1) Fish (2) Fish Oil (2) Fitness (3) fitness question (1) fitness tip (2) fitness tip of the day (4) Food (4) Fruits (3) Good Diet For Better Health (1) Green diet (1) green drink cocktails (1) Green drinks (1) Green hamburger (1) Hair (1) Headaches (4) Healer for Skin Problems (1) healing properties (1) Health (2) Health and Fitness (51) Health and Lifestyle (6) Health and Wellness (1) Health Benefit (1) health drink (1) Health Food (1) Health Lifestyle (3) Health News (92) Health Publications (1) HEALTH TIP OF THE DAY (1) Health Tips (23) Healthiest Foods (2) healthy (1) Healthy Cook Recipes (10) Healthy Eating (1) Healthy Eating Habits (1) Healthy Food (6) healthy lifestyle (1) Healthy Liver Function (1) Healthy Organic Cooking (1) healthy recipes (2) Heart and Blood Circulation (18) Heart Disease (1) Hemorrhoids (1) Hepatitis (1) Herbal medicine (1) Herbal Weight Loss (1) Home and Family (4) How to (2) Hypertension (1) Hypoallergenic Skincare (1) Informative (2) Irish Salad (1) JUICE (16) Kalusugan Mo (11) Kidney (1) Kitchen Design (1) lemon (1) Leukemia (1) lose weight (3) Lower Cholesterol Levels (2) Lungs (1) Medicine (5) Men Health (4) Menopause HRT (2) Mesothelioma (5) Migraine (3) Mount (1) Mouth (1) Mr Ube (1) mulberry (1) Natural News (1) Naturals (1) Nose (4) Nutrition (4) Nutrition And Diarrhea (1) Nutrition and Supplements (3) Obesity (12) optimum nutrition (1) Osteoporosis (1) Pesto Sauce (1) Philippine news update (1) Pneumonia (1) Popular Diets (5) PowerPlus (3) Pregnancy (8) Psychologist (2) Quit Smoking (6) Radiation (1) recipes (1) Recreation and Sports (8) Root Juice (1) Salad Recipes (1) SEQ (1) Sexual Desire (1) Sexual Pleasure (1) Shop and Cook Healthy (1) Sinus Infection (1) sinusitis (2) skin (3) skin care (2) Sleep Disorders (5) Smart Snacks (1) Smoking (2) Sore Throat (1) Sprouts (1) Stomach (1) Stress (3) Surgery (1) tea (2) tea pots (1) teapot (1) Teeth and Gums (3) The Role Of Nutrition (1) Thermometer (1) Tibicos Mushroom (1) top 10 (1) top health benefits (2) Traffice (1) Transmitted Infections (6) Treating Gingivit (1) treatment (2) Using herbal remedies (1) UTI (1) Vegetables (2) Vita-Mix Food (1) Vitamin D (2) Water Ionizer (2) Weight (2) Weight Loss (11) Weight Loss Tips (4) Women Health (5) Womens Interests (2) wrinkles (1) yoga (1) You are What You Eat (1)