Researchers at The University of Queensland have
discovered a link between obstructive sleep apnoea and an increased risk of
developing dementia.
Professor Elizabeth Coulson from
UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and School of Biomedical Sciences and
her team found a causal relationship between a lack of oxygen to the brain
during sleep and Alzheimer’s disease in
mice.
“We found sleep deprivation alone in
mice caused only mild cognitive impairment,” Professor Coulson said.
“But we developed a novel way to induce
sleep-disrupted breathing and found the mice displayed exacerbated pathological
features of Alzheimer’s disease.
“It demonstrated that hypoxia – when the
brain is deprived of oxygen – caused the same selective degeneration of neurons
that characteristically die in dementia.”
Professor Coulson said the next step
would be to determine what levels of hypoxia result in brain degeneration in
humans.
“It’s estimated around 50 per cent of
elderly people have obstructive sleep apnoea, when their throat muscles
intermittently collapse and block the airway during sleep causing their
breathing to stop and start,” she said.
The current gold standard treatment is a
CPAP (continuous positive airway pressure) machine, which keeps the airway open
during sleep and allows oxygen to the brain.
“We couldn’t fit CPAP to mice, but we
experimentally prevented the hypoxia and this stopped the cognitive impairment
and neuron death, and also reduced the Alzheimer’s pathology,” Professor
Coulson said.
“This suggests that CPAP treatment of obstructive sleep apnoea has the potential to reduce dementia risk.”
Results show improvement in memory
Professor Coulson said the findings
could change the way dementia clinicians diagnose and treat their patients.
“Thirty per cent of people with
obstructive sleep apnoea being fitted for CPAP machines already display signs
of dementia-like cognitive impairment,” she said.
“Unfortunately the hospital system isn’t
referring those people to dementia clinics.
“Some dementia clinicians have reported
their patient’s memory has improved after their sleep problems were identified
and treated.”
Professor Coulson said not everyone with
obstructive sleep apnoea would get dementia.
“But we need to define the ‘at risk’
population,” she said.
“Early stage human trials are underway
with sleep clinicians in Brisbane and Sydney to determine the correlation
between hypoxia and sustained cognitive impairment, and whether CPAP can reduce
dementia risk.
“I would strongly recommend anyone with
obstructive sleep apnoea use a CPAP machine to maintain cognitive function, as
well as assist with other health issues.”
Source: https://qbi.uq.edu.au/article/2022/11/uq-study-explains-link-between-sleep-apnoea-and-dementia
Source: The
Link Between Sleep Apnea and Dementia – Scents of Science (myfusimotors.com)
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