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Assessment of cognitive function and sleep–wake rhythms in community-dwelling older adults

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Abstract

Disruption of the circadian rhythm and sleep–wake cycles is a consequence of aging and is associated with the cognitive decline and many neurodegenerative conditions. We investigated the bedtime, wake-up time, sleep timing (midpoint between bedtime and wake-up time), and sleep timing standard deviation (SD) using the actigraphy among 80 consecutive volunteers aged ≥ 60 years. Global cognitive function and executive function of detailed cognitive domains were evaluated using the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) and Wisconsin card sorting test (WCST) and subjective daytime sleepiness was assessed using the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS). The category achievement (CA), total errors (TE), perseverative errors of Nelson (PEN), non-perseverative errors (NPE), and difficulties in maintaining set (DMS) on the WCST were significantly correlated with sleep timing SD (CA: r = − 0.276, p = 0.013, TE: r = 0.311, p = 0.005, PEN: r = 0.241, p = 0.032, NPE: r = 0.250, p = 0.025, DMS: r = 0.235, p = 0.036), but not with the MMSE score. Multiple regression analyses with the stepwise forward selection method including age, ESS score, bedtime, sleep timing, and sleep timing SD, revealed that the ESS score, and sleep timing SD were significant factors related to CA on the WCST (ESS score: β = − 0.322, p = 0.004; sleep timing SD: β = − 0.250, p = 0.022). Assessment of sleep–wake rhythms, daytime sleepiness, and cognitive function using the MMSE and WCST is valuable for the prediction of cognitive decline in the geriatric population.

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Funding

The study was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (KAKENHI Grant number 25282210, 21K07563) and Chubu University research Grant (number 19M27A1, 20M25A1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chubu University Graduate School of Life and Health Sciences, 1200, Matsumoto-cho, Kasugai, Aichi, 487-8501, Japan

    Masato Okuda & Akiko Noda

  2. Department of Psychiatry, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Kunihiro Iwamoto, Seiko Miyata & Norio Ozaki

  3. Department of Neurology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan

    Nozomi Hishikawa

  4. Department of Biomedical Sciences, Chubu University Collage of Life and Health Sciences, Kasugai, Japan

    Fumihiko Yasuma

  5. Department of Innovative Biomedical Visualization, Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Toshiaki Taoka

  6. Department of Psychology, Ohio University, Athens, OH, USA

    Julie A. Suhr

  7. Research Institute of Life and Health Sciences, Chubu University, Kasugai, Japan

    Soichiro Miyazaki

Authors
  1. Masato Okuda
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  2. Akiko Noda
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  3. Kunihiro Iwamoto
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  4. Nozomi Hishikawa
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  5. Seiko Miyata
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  6. Fumihiko Yasuma
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  7. Toshiaki Taoka
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  8. Norio Ozaki
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  9. Julie A. Suhr
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  10. Soichiro Miyazaki
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Contributions

Conception or design; AN. Acquisition; AN, MO. Analysis; MO, AN. Interpretation of data; AN, MO, KI, NH, SM. Drafting the work; MO, AN. Revising it critically for important intellectual content; FY, TT, NO, JAS, SM.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Akiko Noda.

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The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed were in accordance with the Declaration of Helsinki and Japan's Ethical Guidelines for Medical and Health Research Involving Human Subjects. This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Chubu University (Approval number: 270098).

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Written informed consent was obtained from all participants included in the study.

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Okuda, M., Noda, A., Iwamoto, K. et al. Assessment of cognitive function and sleep–wake rhythms in community-dwelling older adults. Sleep Biol. Rhythms 22, 137–145 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-023-00491-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41105-023-00491-z

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