Latest news with #EmilySimmonds
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sleep disorders increase dementia risk
People who experience sleep disorders are at greater risk of developing neurodegenerative conditions, including dementia, new research has found. The study, conducted by researchers at Cardiff University, found that diagnoses of sleep disorder made people up to twice as likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease in the 15 years that followed. The peer-reviewed study used data from more than a million electronic health records. "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," said Prof Valentina Escott-Price, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University. Call for danger warnings to rugby parents over dementia fears I love dad to bits - but being his carer has broken me The researchers examined data from three biobanks – facilities that store biological samples and are used for health research – from which they were "able to obtain accurate, timestamped records of when people experienced sleep disorders". The team analysed those who had been diagnosed with one of more sleep disorder, grouping them into those associated with "circadian rhythm" – or body clock – such as sleepwalking and narcolepsy, and "non-organic" sleep disorders not linked to a known psychological condition, including generalised insomnia and nightmares. The key findings were: Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders were associated with an increased risk of dementia in the 10 to 15 years that followed. The risk was further increased for those with multiple sleep disorders. Circadian sleep disorders increased the risk of Alzheimer's in the 10 to 15 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders increased the risk of vascular dementia in the 5 to 10 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. The risk was further increased for those with multiple sleep disorders. Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders increased risk of Parkinson's in the 10 to 15 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. Dr Emily Simmonds, bioinformatician at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, said the study aimed to "understand the complicated relationship between sleep and dementia". She said: "People living with dementia often experience sleep problems, but there is not yet enough evidence to say for sure whether poor sleep increases risk of dementia. "Our results are compelling, indicating a clear increased risk of neurodegenerative disease following a sleep disorder." Prof Escott-Price, also from Cardiff University, said that while further investigation is needed the research "points towards sleep disorders as a risk factor for these conditions". Future research will examine whether improving sleep through the use of medication leads to a reduction in risk.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Sleep disorders increase dementia risk
People who experience sleep disorders are at greater risk of developing neurodegenerative conditions, including dementia, new research has found. The study, conducted by researchers at Cardiff University, found that diagnoses of sleep disorder made people up to twice as likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease in the 15 years that followed. The peer-reviewed study used data from more than a million electronic health records. "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," said Prof Valentina Escott-Price, from the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University. Call for danger warnings to rugby parents over dementia fears I love dad to bits - but being his carer has broken me The researchers examined data from three biobanks – facilities that store biological samples and are used for health research – from which they were "able to obtain accurate, timestamped records of when people experienced sleep disorders". The team analysed those who had been diagnosed with one of more sleep disorder, grouping them into those associated with "circadian rhythm" – or body clock – such as sleepwalking and narcolepsy, and "non-organic" sleep disorders not linked to a known psychological condition, including generalised insomnia and nightmares. The key findings were: Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders were associated with an increased risk of dementia in the 10 to 15 years that followed. The risk was further increased for those with multiple sleep disorders. Circadian sleep disorders increased the risk of Alzheimer's in the 10 to 15 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders increased the risk of vascular dementia in the 5 to 10 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. The risk was further increased for those with multiple sleep disorders. Circadian sleep disorders and non-organic sleep disorders increased risk of Parkinson's in the 10 to 15 years following sleep disorder diagnosis. Dr Emily Simmonds, bioinformatician at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University, said the study aimed to "understand the complicated relationship between sleep and dementia". She said: "People living with dementia often experience sleep problems, but there is not yet enough evidence to say for sure whether poor sleep increases risk of dementia. "Our results are compelling, indicating a clear increased risk of neurodegenerative disease following a sleep disorder." Prof Escott-Price, also from Cardiff University, said that while further investigation is needed the research "points towards sleep disorders as a risk factor for these conditions". Future research will examine whether improving sleep through the use of medication leads to a reduction in risk.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Nightmares linked to higher dementia risk, study finds
People who have nightmares or sleepwalk are twice as likely to develop vascular dementia than those who sleep soundly, a study has found. Scientists have long known that serious sleep disorders increase the risk of neurodegenerative conditions, but the latest research has shed more light on the connection. Analysis of more than a million people's medical records has found individuals with sleep problems who have not been diagnosed with anything physically wrong are also at increased risk. So-called 'non-organic' sleep disorders which are not linked to a known physiological condition include night terrors, sleepwalking, nightmares, and forms of insomnia and hypersomnia. Sufferers from these disorders were found to be more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with vascular dementia in later life, and to be at 67 per cent higher risk of dementia and 68 per cent higher risk of Parkinson's disease. The study, led by Cardiff University, involved data from three biobanks containing the records of people in Britain and Finland. The research compared the subjects' sleeping patterns with their genes and their long-term health outcomes. 'By using biobank data, we had timestamped records of when people had sleep disorders, and exactly when they were subsequently diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease – rather than relying on self-reporting,' said Dr Emily Simmonds, one of the study authors and a bioinformatician at the UK Dementia Research Institute at Cardiff University. 'Our results are compelling, indicating a clear increased risk of neurodegenerative disease following a sleep disorder, across three large biobank datasets.' The scientists found people often experienced sleep disorder symptoms up to 15 years before they started seeing symptoms of the neurodegenerative conditions. Kristin Levine, a study co-author from the US National Institutes of Health's (NIH) Centre for Alzheimer's and Related Dementias, said: 'One of the exciting things about identifying people at higher risk of developing a neurodegenerative disease 10-15 years before diagnosis, is that it gives us time to implement treatments that may delay or prevent development of disease.' A link was seen between sleep problems and the neurodegenerative diseases even in people whose genes put them at low risk, the study authors found. '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,' said Hampton Leonard from the NIH Centre, the study's co-leader. '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.' The scientists hope future research will build on their findings, and investigate if any interventions that target sleep problems can improve the outlook for neurodegenerative conditions. The study is published in npj Dementia. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Sky News
4 days ago
- General
- Sky News
Dementia: Sleep problems could 'double risk' of disease in later life
Problems sleeping could double the risk of developing dementia later in life, according to new research. Scientists have found that a diagnosis of a sleep disorder made people up to twice as likely to develop a neurodegenerative disease, such as dementia, in the following 15 years. The study, carried out by Cardiff University's UK Dementia Research Institute and the NIH Intramural Centre for Alzheimer's and Related Dementia (CARD) in the US, is one of the largest to date. Researchers investigated whether disrupted sleep is an early sign of neurodegeneration or makes someone more likely to develop dementia later. They used data from over one million electronic health records to map out the relationship between the different neurodegenerative diseases and sleep disorders. The risk of dementia was further increased for people recorded as experiencing multiple sleep disorders. The findings also revealed that sleep disorders increased the risk of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, irrespective of genetic risk. Sleep disorders and genetics are likely to be influencing the risk of diagnosis independently of each other, according to the study. Dr Emily Simmonds works as a bioinformatician at the UK Dementia Research Institute. She said scientists "wanted to understand the complicated relationship between sleep and dementia". "People living with dementia often experience sleep problems, but there is not yet enough evidence to say for sure whether poor sleep increases risk of dementia," she said. Dr Simmonds said the team "set out to see if we could figure out what order these things are happening". "By using biobank data, we had timestamped records of when people had sleep disorders, and exactly when they were subsequently diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease - rather than relying on self-reporting," she added.
