Overview
- The Mayo Clinic–led analysis in Neurology followed about 2,750 cognitively healthy adults near age 70 for roughly 5.6 years with annual memory and thinking tests.
- People meeting criteria for chronic insomnia had a 40% higher incidence of mild cognitive impairment or dementia, with 14% affected versus 10% among those without insomnia.
- Brain scans showed greater amyloid plaque burden and more white matter hyperintensities in participants with chronic insomnia, pointing to Alzheimer-type and vascular pathways.
- Researchers estimated the association was equivalent to about 3.5 additional years of brain aging for those with chronic insomnia.
- Effects appeared steeper in APOE ε4 carriers, and with about 12% of Americans affected, clinicians urge treating insomnia even as the evidence remains correlational.