Study links sleep disorders to developing dementia 

A study published in npj dementia has linked sleep disorders with a doubling of the risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease such as dementia. 

Researchers from UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University and the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) Intramural Center for Alzheimer’s and Related Dementias, analysed data from electronic health records to examine the relationship between sleep and neurodegenerative disease.  

Professor Valentina Escott-Price, Study Co-Leader and Group Leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, says:  

“Through analysing over 1 million people’s health records, we have found evidence to suggest that having a sleep disorder significantly increases someone’s risk of going on to later develop a neurodegenerative disease. In fact, this increased risk was present for up to 15 years following a sleep disorder diagnosis, and the risk was even greater for people who experienced recurrent sleep disorders. 

Perhaps most interestingly, this increased risk was occurring independently of genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, with sleep disorders almost ‘compensating’ for low genetic risk. One would expect that if sleep disorders were caused by neurodegeneration, genetic risk of sleep disorder and neurodegenerative disease would line up. Further investigation is needed, but this points towards sleep disorders as a risk factor for these conditions.” 

You can read the study here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s44400-025-00008-0 

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