Can treating sleep problems lower dementia risk?

Peter Sayer, Alison Bloomer, and Eve Batt report from the Alzheimer’s Association International Conference 2017 (AAIC). These findings highlight the idea that SDB is a modifiable factor that may help lower the risk of dementia and possibly slow the progression of dementia where it already exists. Sleep disordered breathing is characterised by repeated episodes of hypopnea (under breathing) and apnoea during sleep. The predominant form of apnoea, obstructive sleep apnoea, occurs when an individual’s upper airway closes partially or fully, but efforts to breath continue. OSA occurs in an estimated three in 10 men and one in five women. Research