2025 American Academy of Neurology Abstract Website

Objective:

To examine the association between Polygenic Index for Sleep duration (Sleep PGI) and brain changes over time, across adulthood.

Background:

Sleep is a complex physiological process crucial for cognitive functioning, emotional regulation, and overall health. Recent advances in genomics and neuroimaging have illuminated the intricate relationship between genetics, sleep architecture, and brain changes. This longitudinal study investigated the association between sleep duration genetics, through a Sleep Duration Polygenic Index (Sleep PGI), and brain changes (total cortical thickness, white matter volume, grey matter volume) in cognitively healthy adults aged 20-80 years old. Age, sex, education, intracranial volume, and principal components were added as covariates.

Design/Methods:

Using longitudinal data from the Reference Ability Neural Network (RANN) and Cognitive Reserve (CR) studies, we examined the impact of Sleep PGI on brain measures (total cortical thickness, gray matter volume and white matter volume) over time, in White-ethnicity adults. Generalized Estimated Equations were used for the statistical analysis. Analysis was performed in the total sample and in three age-groups (young, middle, old). Age, sex, education, intracranial volume, and principal components were added as covariates.

Results:

Across age, there was no significant association between Sleep PGI and brain changes over time. However, in the analysis by age, in middle-aged adults, higher Sleep PGI was associated with decreased total grey and white matter. This indicated that genetic predispositions for longer sleep duration significantly influence brain health, being associated with lower brain morphometry. Results were not significant for the two other age groups.

Conclusions:

Sleep duration polygenic score was associated with changes in brain in middle-aged adults. These findings underscore the importance of maintaining optimal sleep duration and the potential for personalized interventions to improve sleep and brain health.