Background: There is growing evidence that essential tremor (ET) patients are at high risk of cognitive impairment. Predictors of cognitive impairment have not been studied extensively. There is evidence from cross-sectional studies that sleep dysregulation is associated with cognitive dysfunction in ET, but longitudinal studies of the impact of sleep disruption on cognitive change have not been conducted. We investigated the extent to which sleep problems predict cognitive change in patients with ET.
Methods: ET cases enrolled in a prospective, longitudinal study of cognitive performance. Sleep quality was assessed using the Pittsburg Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Cognitive abilities across five domains (memory, executive function, attention, language, and visuospatial ability), and a global cognitive score (mean of the domains) were extracted from an extensive neuropsychological assessment. Generalized estimated equations were used to examine the association between baseline sleep problems and cognitive changes over three follow-up assessments each spaced 18 months apart.
Results: The 188 non-demented ET cases had a mean age of 77.7 ± 9.5 years. Longer sleep latency was associated with longitudinal decline in executive function (p = 0.038), and marginally with longitudinal decline in global cognitive performance (p = 0.075). After excluding 29 cases with mild cognitive impairment, results were similar.
Conclusion: Cognitively healthy people with ET who have longer sleep latency had greater declines in executive function during prospective follow-up. Early detection of, and possibly intervention for, abnormal sleep latency may protect against certain aspects of cognitive decline in ET patients.
Keywords: Cognitive decline; Essential tremor; Longitudinal study; Prospective study; Sleep latency.
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