Abstract Introduction While previous research has established poor sleep quality as a risk factor for general cognitive decline in the elderly, its associations with regional amyloid uptake and specific cognitive domains remain understudied. Methods Participants (N= 221) were pulled from studies on sleep, aging and memory in cognitively normal community-dwelling older adults. Sleep quality was quantified using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and scores were categorized into Good Sleep ( 6), Moderately Poor Sleep (6-10), and Very Poor Sleep (10). A neuropsychological battery containing tasks assessing various cognitive domains measured cognitive performance. Beta amyloid deposition was measured using PET imaging in regions of interest (ROIs). Multivariable regression models were run controlling for age, gender, race, education, and blood pressure. Results Participants were 68.1 ± 6.23 years old, 51% female, 53.7% Black/African American, and had 16.02 ± 2.67 years of education. Very poor (βPSQI = -1.15, -2.283, -0.034, p = 0.04) and moderately poor (βPSQI = 2.01, 0.242, 3.788, p = 0.02) were associated with verbal fluency. PSQI scores showed an inverse trend towards significance with global cognition measures (βPSQI = -0.14, -0.300, 0.003, p = 0.055). Very poor PSQI scores showed significant relationships with amyloid deposition in the cingulate (βPSQI= 0.14, 0.024, 0.254, p = 0.01), temporal (βPSQI = 0.110, 0.007, 0.213], p = 0.03), parietal (βPSQI= 0.10, 0.003, 0.197, p = 0.04), and frontal (βPSQI = 0.12, 0.004, 0.243, p = 0.04) regions as well as in the medial orbitofrontal region (βPSQI = 0.15, 0.030, 0.278, p = 0.01), the posterior cingulate region (βPSQI = 0.13, 0.005, 0.266, p = 0.04) and the precuneus (βPSQI= 0.16, 0.035, 0.285, p = 0.01). Conclusion Participants with very poor PSQI scores exhibited significant increases in regional amyloid deposition and reduced verbal fluency and global cognitive scores, suggesting a need for further research into the interactive effects of amyloid uptake and sleep quality on cognitive performance. Support (if any)
Dharmapuri et al. (2026) studied this question.