Anomalies in sleep pattern and executive functions in asymptomatic offspring of patients with late-onset Alzheimer´s Disease.

ABULAFIA, CAROLINA; DUARTE-ABRITTA, BARBARA; VILLARREAL, MIRTA F.; LADRÓN DE GUEVARA, MARÍA SOLEDAD; SEVLEVER, GUSTAVO; FIORENTINI, LETICIA; GUINJOAN, SALVADOR M.; VIGO, DANIEL E.

Valparaiso

Congreso; XIV Latin American Symposium on Chronobiology; 2017

Centro Interdisciplinario de Neurociencia de Valparaíso (CINV)

Introduction: Early neuropathological changes of late-onset Alzheimer´s disease (LOAD) involve autonomicimpairment including alterations of the sleep-wake rhythm. Indeed, anomalies in sleep pattern are emerging asa potential biomarker of the disease. It is also well documented the association between such alterations anddecreased performance on executive function tasks. We hypothesized that asymptomatic offspring of patientswith LOAD would display circadian rhythm abnormalities along with some degree of executive impairmentbefore the onset of the disease. Objective: An exploratory study was conducted with 35 asymptomatic middleagedoffspring of patients with LOAD (OLOAD) and 31 healthy individuals without family history of AD (CS).Methods: Measures of sleep-wake rhythm by actigraphy, circadian rhythm of body temperature and circadianheart rate variability were collected. The following executive functions were assessed: cognitive flexibility(TMT-B), abstract reasoning (WAIS-III Similarities), planning and problem-solving (Tower of London) andverbal (Verbal Fluency) and nonverbal (Design Fluency) productivity. Group comparison (T-test) showedOLOAD exhibits greater sleep duration (474±11m vs. 439±9m, p=0.018) but lower sleep efficiency than CS(96.7±0.5% vs. 97.1±0.4%, p=0.042). No other significant differences were found for HRV, temperature orexecutive function measures. Significant correlations between executive functions and circadian parameterswere observed both in OLOAD and CS, however, no differential patterns between groups could be discerned.Conclusions: The present results support the existing evidence of sleep pattern as a potential early marker inLOAD, already present in young asymptomatic at-risk individuals with no signs of cognitive decline.