The apnea and other sleep disorders can lead to changes in areas of the brain that are responsible, among other things, for memory and thinking, and increase the risk of dementiaaccording to a study by the University of Miami carried out on Latinos in the US released this Wednesday.
The work also reveals that those with lower oxygen levels during sleep They had changes in the deep parts of the brain, the white matter, which is usually common with decreased brain health that develops with age and that in the long run can lead to dementia.
As the university center reminds us, these respiratory disorders are a variety of conditions that cause a abnormal breathing during sleepincluding snoring and obstructive sleep apnea, which is when a person stops breathing five or more times per hour. “When breathing stops, it can reduce oxygen levels and affect the brain,” emphasizes the University of Miami.
The research, which was published this Wednesday in the digital magazine Neurologyfrom the American Academy of Neurology, has been done on a sample of 2,667 Latinos, with an average age of 68 years. As the doctor and specialist Alberto Ramos, author of the study, points out, the choice of the sample is due to the fact that Latinos are at higher risk of dementia than the white non-Latino American population.
Brain shrinkage
The also research director of the Sleep Disorders Program at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine emphasizes that past studies have found that lower oxygen levels during sleep have been related to brain shrinkagewhile others have found a link to their growth. “Both brain shrinkage and growth can damage memory and thinking by altering normal brain functions, increasing the risk of cognitive deterioration and dementia,” the researcher explains.
In the study led by Ramos, done over ten yearseach participant was given a take-home sleep test that measured how often they stopped breathing, called apneas, and how often they breathed slowly or shallowly, called hypopneas. The researchers also measured oxygen levels in the bloodstream during sleep.
They were then divided into three groups: those who had fewer than five sleep interruptions per hour or no sleep problems; those with between 5 and 15 interruptionswho were considered to have mild sleep problems, and those with more than 15, that is, with moderate to severe sleep problems.
Of the total participants, 56% had no sleep problems, 28% had mild sleep problems and 16% had moderate to severe sleep problems. After a decade, participants had brain scans to measure brain volume and areas of white matter where brain tissue might be damaged.
They found that people in the group with the most sleep problems had 0.24 cubic centimeters more brain volume in the hippocampus than those without sleep problems. They also found that for each additional sleep interruption, there was an increase of 0.006 cubic centimeters in brain volume in the hippocampus. Those responsible for the research found that the above was related to a lower amount of oxygen during sleep.
Ramos highlights that the findings of this study reflect the need for others to follow patients from middle age or even earlier. “A clear understanding of how brain volume is affected by sleep apnea and other sleep disorders is essential so people can receive early and effective treatmentespecially in people who may be at higher risk of dementia,” he highlights.
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