Nature and Science of Sleep (Feb 2022)
Associations Between Self-Reported Sleep Disturbances and Cognitive Impairment: A Population-Based Cross-Sectional Study
Abstract
Long Sun,1,2 Keqing Li,3 Lili Zhang,3 Yunshu Zhang3 1Centre for Health Management and Policy Research, School of Public Health, Cheeloo College of Medicine, Shandong University, Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 2National Health Commission of China Key Laboratory for Health Economics and Policy Research (Shandong University), Jinan, Shandong, People’s Republic of China; 3Department of Sleep Medicine, Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, Baoding, Hebei, People’s Republic of ChinaCorrespondence: Yunshu Zhang, Department of Sleep Medicine, Hebei Provincial Mental Health Center, 572 Dongfengdong Road, Baoding, Hebei, 071000, People’s Republic of China, Tel +86 312-507-9277, Email [email protected]: Cognitive impairment is a rapidly growing global public health problem in China and worldwide. In the recent decades, emerging studies have explored the associations between sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment. However, the variety of the results imply us that further studies should be conducted for the associations.Methods: This is a cross-sectional study conducted between August and October 2018 in five cities in Hebei province, China. Subjects were 21,376 community residents. Cognitive impairment was screened by the Chinese version of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Scales of Athens Insomnia Scale (AIS), Berlin Questionnaire (BQ), REM (rapid eye movement) Sleep Behavior Disorder Questionnaire (RBDQ-HK), Ullanlinna Narcolepsy Scale (CUNS), and Cambridge-Hopkins Restless Legs Syndrome Questionnaire (CH-RLSq) were used to access insomnia, sleep apnea, REM sleep behavior disorder, narcolepsy, and restless leg syndrome.Results: The mean ± SD (standard error) of MMSE, AIS, RBDQ-HK, and CUNS were 27.95 ± 4.79, 2.16 ± 3.39, 5.55 ± 7.75, and 3.76 ± 2.31, respectively. Among the participants, 10.6% and 1.5% of the participants were identified as having a high risk of sleep apnea and restless leg syndrome, respectively. The results of multiple linear regression showed that cognitive impairment was associated with insomnia (β = − 0.037, p 0.05), REM sleep behavior disorder (β = 0.006, p > 0.05), restless leg syndrome (β = − 0.007, p > 0.05), and cognitive impairment were not supported. Other factors associated with cognitive impairment were gender, age, education level, married status, and region.Conclusion: This study provides some epidemiological evidence for the association between sleep disturbances and cognitive impairment among community residents in central China. In this study, the associations between insomnia, narcolepsy, and cognitive impairment were identified, but the associations between sleep apnea, REM sleep behavior disorder, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, and cognitive impairment were not supported among community residents.Keywords: insomnia, sleep apnea, REM sleep behavior disorder, narcolepsy, restless leg syndrome, cognitive impairment
