Sleep duration and brain MRI measures: Results from the SOL-INCA MRI study

Kevin A González; Wassim Tarraf; Ariana M Stickel; Sonya Kaur; Christian Agudelo; Susan Redline; Linda C Gallo; Carmen R Isasi; Jianwen Cai; Martha L Daviglus; Fernando D Testai; Charles DeCarli; Hector M González; Alberto R Ramos

doi:10.1002/alz.13451

Sleep duration and brain MRI measures: Results from the SOL-INCA MRI study

Alzheimers Dement. 2024 Jan;20(1):641-651. doi: 10.1002/alz.13451. Epub 2023 Sep 29.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosciences and Shiley-Marcos Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, University of California San Diego School of Medicine, San Diego, California, USA.
² Department of Healthcare Sciences and Institute of Gerontology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA.
³ Department of Psychology, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
⁴ Department of Neurology, University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, Miami, Florida, USA.
⁵ Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁶ Department of Psychology and South Bay Latino Research Center, San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA.
⁷ Department of Epidemiology & Population Health, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York, USA.
⁸ Department of Biostatistics, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA.
⁹ Institute for Minority Health Research, College of Medicine, University of Illinois at Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology and Rehabilitation, University of Illinois College of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA.
¹¹ Department of Neurology, University of California Davis, Sacramento, California, USA.

Abstract

Introduction: Sleep duration has been associated with dementia and stroke. Few studies have evaluated sleep pattern-related outcomes of brain disease in diverse Hispanics/Latinos.

Methods: The SOL-INCA (Study of Latinos-Investigation of Neurocognitive Aging) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) study recruited diverse Hispanics/Latinos (35-85 years) who underwent neuroimaging. The main exposure was self-reported sleep duration. Our main outcomes were total and regional brain volumes.

Results: The final analytic sample included n = 2334 participants. Increased sleep was associated with smaller brain volume (β_{total_brain} = -0.05, p < 0.01) and consistently so in the 50+ subpopulation even after adjusting for mild cognitive impairment status. Sleeping >9 hours was associated with smaller gray (β_{combined_gray} = -0.17, p < 0.05) and occipital matter volumes (β_{occipital_gray} = -0.18, p < 0.05).

Discussion: We found that longer sleep duration was associated with lower total brain and gray matter volume among diverse Hispanics/Latinos across sex and background. These results reinforce the importance of sleep on brain aging in this understudied population.

Highlights: Longer sleep was linked to smaller total brain and gray matter volumes. Longer sleep duration was linked to larger white matter hyperintensities (WMHs) and smaller hippocampal volume in an obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) risk group. These associations were consistent across sex and Hispanic/Latino heritage groups.

Keywords: Alzheimer's disease; magnetic resonance imaging; sleep.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Aging / pathology
Brain* / pathology
Gray Matter / pathology
Humans
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Sleep Duration*

Abstract

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding