Key takeaways:
- Subjective memory complaints often precede the onset of mild cognitive impairment and dementia.
- Middle-aged and older adults who develop insomnia disorder have increased odds of experiencing subjective memory decline.
- Insomnia disorder may contribute to the early stages of cognitive decline.
Insomnia disorder is characterized by difficulties initiating or maintaining sleep, or early morning awakenings, accompanied by daytime impairment and poor self-reported quality of sleep. It is one of the most prevalent sleep disorders, accounting for about 10% of the adult population. nearly one-third of adults experience insomnia symptoms without impairments of daytime functioning and do not fulfil all criteria for an insomnia disorder diagnosis.
Zhao et al reviewed longitudinal data from 26,363 patients in Canada. While most measures were self-reported, they found an increased odds (OR 1.70; 95% CI 1.29–2.26) of self-reported memory worsening was observed for those without insomnia symptoms at baseline who then developed probable insomnia disorder at follow-up compared to those who developed some mild insomnia symptoms or remained without insomnia symptoms.
Citation: Jean-Louis Zhao, Nathan Cross, Chun W Yao, Julie Carrier, Ronald B Postuma, Nadia Gosselin, Lisa Kakinami, Thien Thanh Dang-Vu, Insomnia disorder increases the risk of subjective memory decline in middle-aged and older adults: a longitudinal analysis of the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging, Sleep, Volume 45, Issue 11, November 2022, zsac176, https://doi.org/10.1093/sleep/zsac176
