Sleep Test Predicts Dementia in Older Adults

A study in JAMA Network Open has validated a dementia marker that may help doctors identify patients who have the condition or are at risk of developing it, reports the Harvard Gazette . Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers compiled the Brain Age Index (BAI), a model that uses artificial intelligence and sleep data to estimate the difference between a person's chronological age and the biological age of their brain when computed by electroencephalogram during sleep. A higher BAI indicates deviation from normal brain aging, which could signal the presence and severity of dementia. The team computed values for 5,144 sleep tests in 88 persons with dementia, 44 with mild cognitive impairment, 1,075 with cognitive symptoms but no impairment diagnosis, and 2,336 without dementia. BAI values increased across the groups with the degree of cognitive impairment, and subjects with dementia had an average value of about four years older than those without dementia. BAI values also correlated with neuropsychiatric scores from standard cognitive evaluations performed before or after the sleep study. "BAI has potential as a screening tool for the presence of underlying neurodegenerative disease and monitoring of disease progression," suggested Alice D. Lam at MGH.