Snoring link to Alzheimer ’s disease unproven

Conclusion This relatively large cross-sectional analysis has found a link between certain measures of breathing problems during sleep and poorer cognitive function in middle-aged to older adults. The strengths of this study include its size and use of a prospective sleep study to assess whether people had sleep apnoea or other problems with breathing during sleep. The use of standard cognitive tests is also a strength. However, the study does have its limitations: The study did have mixed findings – while certain measures of problems with breathing during sleep (e.g. oxygen levels) were associated with cognitive outcomes, others (e.g. Apnea-Hypopnea Index) were not. This suggests that findings are not conclusive. In addition, previous studies have also had mixed results. This suggests that a systematic review which brings together all of the available evidence on this question would be helpful to assess whether, on balance, the research suggests a true link. It's not possible from this type of cross-sectional analysis to prove that breathing problems during sleep cause the differences in brain function seen. This is largely because it's not possible to establish whether participants only developed problems with brain function after they experienced sleep breathing problems. It's also difficult to be sure that the effect of all potential confounders has been removed. The study measured brain function at one time point and did not assess whether people had (or wen...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Neurology Lifestyle/exercise Source Type: news