Study links brain damage to sleep apnea's lack of deep sleep

 

Study links brain damage to sleep apnea's lack of deep sleep

 

ATHENS — Uncontrolled sleep apnea, a condition in which people repeatedly stop breathing for 10 seconds or longer at a time, may be detrimental to long-term brain function, according to a recent study.

Between the ages of 30 and 69, an estimated 936 million adults worldwide are thought to have sleep apnea, with many more going untreated. People have a three times greater chance of dying from any cause if their sleep apnea is severe and untreated.

According to the study, those with severe sleep apnea who had less deep sleep, often referred to as slow-wave sleep, had more damage to their brain's white matter than those who had more slow-wave sleep.

The tissue known as "white matter" is what connects brain cells to the rest of the nervous system. White matter hyperintensities, little white spots that appear on brain scans to indicate injury, are present.

According to study coauthor Dr. Diego Carvalho, a neurologist at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, there was an increase in white matter hyperintensities in the brain comparable to the effect of being 2.3 years older for every 10% reduction in deep sleep time.

He noted that mild to moderate sleep apnea may not be significantly connected with white matter alterations and that the association with sleep apnea was only discovered when severe cases were isolated.

These brain abnormalities, however, are not curable, "so we need to find ways to prevent them from happening or getting worse." said Carvalho.

preserving mental health

According to specialists, the brain's capacity to process information, pay attention, and remember can be slowed by having more white matter hyperintensities. Additionally linked to mental health problems like sadness, anxiety, and irritability are lower levels of white matter.

As an associate professor of neurology and preventive medicine at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago, Kristen Knutson specializes in sleep medicine. "Their findings are consistent with the literature that indicates sleep, including slow-wave sleep, plays an important role in maintaining brain health," she said.

According to Knutson, who was not involved in the new study, "We've also seen associations between poor sleep quality and higher blood pressure, and high blood pressure can lead to brain damage or stroke."

a white matter injury

The study, which was released on Wednesday in the journal Neurology, examined 140 participants in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging, with an average age of 72. All had undergone one of two different types of magnetic resonance imaging scans, were free of dementia, and shown normal cognitive function during assessment.

32% had moderate, 34% had severe, and 34% had mild sleep apnea, on average, among the individuals. According to Carvalho, blood pressure and heart rate increase as carbon dioxide levels rise and oxygen levels fall due to sleep apnea.

 

The activation of stress hormones, which increase blood pressure and impact our metabolism, as well as a rise in inflammation in the body and brain, are the results of all these changes, the doctor claimed. Blood may also thicken as a result. "Changes in the blood vessels can cause stroke, and inadequate blood flow to the brain can result in neuronal degeneration or white matter dysfunction, which can ultimately cause cognitive decline."

The study examined two biomarkers for brain damage: an increase in white matter hyperintensities and modifications in the fractional anisotropy of the genu of the corpus callosum, which gauges water transport within the brain's neural fibers.

We used this approach to investigate early white matter aberrations associated with vascular disease.

According to experts, dementia brought on by vascular illness is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

The corpus callosum, or genu FA, was used in the study to assess slow-wave sleep, and it was found that each 10% drop in slow-wave sleep was equivalent to three years of aging. The study also took into account factors including age, high blood pressure, and cholesterol.

Who is susceptible to white matter damage?

According to Carvalho, similar conclusions came from the investigation of white matter hyperintensities. the patient's brain after only a brief period

We use this method to look at the sudden white material anomalies connected to vascular disease.

According to experts, dementia brought on by vascular disease is the second most common type of dementia after Alzheimer's disease.

After ruling out factors like age, high blood pressure, and cholesterol that can affect the changes in the brain, the study discovered that every 10% decrease in the duration of slow waves corresponded to three years of age as measured by the calls or genu FA, according to Carvalho.