Why does sleep matter in dementia?

This event is part of a series of Psychology seminars that regularly occurs during the Autumn and Spring terms.

Increasing evidence supports the presence of a damaging feedforward cycle between sleep dysfunction and dementia, in which the sleep abnormalities caused by dementia in turn exacerbate its cognitive/affective features and underlying pathobiology. As a result, treating sleep abnormalities could pose a novel opportunity to improve dementia outcomes.

Huntington’s Disease (HD), by virtue of being an autosomal-dominant dementia presenting in mid-life, presents a key ‘model’ condition through which to advance this area. In this talk, I will discuss our group’s 12-year longitudinal study of sleep abnormalities in HD patients, which is the first to show direct evidence of a link between sleep dysfunction and poorer cognitive and disease activity outcomes in HD.

I will then also discuss results of our pilot study comparing inpatient vs home headset polysomnography in HD patients. I will finish by outlining our onward plans for trials of new sleep therapies in HD patients, to establish whether treating sleep dysfunction in dementia can indeed improve cognition and slow disease progression.