ASSOCIATION OF SLEEP DURATION, PHYSICAL FUNCTION AND SOCIAL ACTIVITY IN OLDER ADULTS WITH MILD COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

Abstract

The relationship between sleep duration and functional decline in older adults with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is unknown. Our objective was to examine the independent relationship between sleep duration, physical functioning and social activity in community-dwelling older adults with MCI. Analyses were conducted on baseline data from participants enrolled in the Healthy Patterns Clinical Trial (Hodgson; R01NR015226-02S1). Measures included Barthel Index for activities of daily living, Promis Physical Function Short Form for physical functioning, and Promis Item Bank Social for social activity. We used Spearman’s correlation and multivariate linear regression. A total of 18 individuals (72.2% male) aged 75.8 (SD 8.4) with mean Clinical Dementia Rating (CDR) scores of 1.06 (SD 0.68) were enrolled. Sleep duration ranged from 4.5 to 13.5 with mean 8.47 (SD 2.05) hours. Longer sleep duration was significantly associated with poorer levels of activities of daily living (r = -0.742, p = .001) and trended towards significance with physical functioning (r = -0.406, p = .095) in bivariate analyses. After controlling for age, sex, number of medications, CDR, and depression, sleep duration was independently associated with activities of daily living (β = -15.899, p = .001). The relationship between sleep duration and social activity was not significant (r = -0.352, p = .166). Our preliminary results suggest longer sleep may be a cause or early sign of declining physical functional in older adults with MCI. Further prospective studies are necessary to determine the long-term effect of sleep duration on physical or social functioning in MCI patients.