A new study will look at how sleep affects the development of dementia. Sleep problems, which are common in dementia, are often thought to be an outcome of the disease, but recent evidence indicates sleep may play a role in the development of the disease.
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common type of dementia, and it affects twice as many women as men. Minorities are expected to have the most significant uptick in cases in the coming years, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.
Scientists at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center have launched the Research Framework for Sleep Health – Neurocognitive Outcomes in Women (REFRESH-NOW) study, which will evaluate how sleep duration and irregularity affect women 55 and older. The participants will use activity trackers and a smartphone app to track their sleep patterns and other factors over the course of three years. The MyDataHelps mobile app will be used to share data with researchers.
The team also will collect data on related sleep habits, sleep apnea risk and surveys. During the study, participants will participate in a variety of cognitive tests at home.
Stuti Jaiswal, MD, a physician-scientist specializing in sleep research, will lead the initiative.
“Wearables have the potential to revolutionize sleep research. While polysomnography is generally regarded as the gold standard for gathering sleep measurements, it only provides a snapshot of a person’s sleep characteristics based on data collected during a night spent in a sleep laboratory,” Jaiswal said in a statement. “That tool requires a person be hooked up to many different wires and sensors in a sleep laboratory, which is not a person’s natural sleep environment. On the other hand, commercially available activity trackers collect data passively making it very simple for people to participate in sleep research from the comfort of their own home and to share real-world data with researchers over months or even years.”
Ultimately, the team hopes they can come up with interventions to improve cognitive outcomes in women.
Study enrollment is open to women who are 55 or older and living in the United States.
