University of Pittsburgh
Kristine Wilckens
Dementia caused by Alzheimer's disease affects approximately 5.6 million adults over age 65, with costs expected to rise from $307 billion to $1.5 trillion over the next 30 years. Behavioral interventions have shown promise for mitigating neurodegeneration and cognitive impairments. Sleep is a modifiable health behavior that is critical for cognition and deteriorates with advancing age and Alzheimer's disease. Thus, it is a priority to examine whether improving sleep modifies Alzheimer's disease pathophysiology and cognitive function. Extant research suggests that deeper, more consolidated sleep is positively associated with memory and executive functions and networks that underlie these processes. Preliminary studies confirm that time-in-bed restriction interventions increase sleep efficiency and non-rapid eye movement slow-wave activity (SWA) and suggest that increases in SWA are associated with improved cognitive function. SWA reflects synaptic downscaling predominantly among prefrontal connections. Downscaling of prefrontal connections with the hippocampus during sleep may help to preserve the long-range connections that support memory and cognitive function. In pre-clinical Alzheimer's disease, hyperactivation of the hippocampus is thought to be excitotoxic and is shown to leave neurons vulnerable to further amyloid deposition. Synaptic downscaling through SWA may mitigate the progression of Alzheimer's disease through these pathways. The proposed study will behaviorally increase sleep depth (SWA) through four weeks of time-in-bed restriction in older adults characterized on amyloid deposition and multiple factors associated with Alzheimer's disease risk. This study will examine whether behaviorally enhanced SWA reduces hippocampal hyperactivation, leading to improved task-related prefrontal-hippocampal connectivity, plasma amyloid levels, and cognitive function. This research addresses whether a simple, feasible, and scalable behavioral sleep intervention improves functional neuroimaging indices of excitotoxicity, Alzheimer's pathophysiology, and cognitive performance.
Alzheimer Disease, Late Onset
Mild Cognitive Impairment
Sleep
Cognitive Change
Amyloid
Time in Bed Restriction
Sleep Schedule
NA
Study Type : | INTERVENTIONAL |
Estimated Enrollment : | 116 participants |
Masking : | SINGLE |
Masking Description : | Data collection and data reduction will be performed by sleep technicians and staff who are blind to study hypotheses and the randomization assignment. |
Primary Purpose : | TREATMENT |
Official Title : | Slow-wave Sleep Enhancement in Those at Risk for Alzheimer's Disease: Links With Memory, Excitotoxicity, and Plasma A-beta |
Actual Study Start Date : | 2022-01-03 |
Estimated Primary Completion Date : | 2026-05-31 |
Estimated Study Completion Date : | 2026-05-31 |
Information not available for Arms and Intervention/treatment
Ages Eligible for Study: | 65 Years to 85 Years |
Sexes Eligible for Study: | ALL |
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: | 1 |
Want to participate in this study, select a site at your convenience, send yourself email to get contact details and prescreening steps.
RECRUITING
UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, 15213