Key result
Hypertension risk linked to sharper cognitive decline during 28-hour sleep deprivation in young adults.
Why the study?
Does sleep deprivation cause greater cognitive decline in young adults at risk for hypertension compared to those not at risk?
Observational (n=51)
No
Does sleep deprivation cause greater cognitive decline in young adults at risk for hypertension compared to those not at risk?
Young adults at risk for hypertension experience greater cognitive decline during sleep deprivation, suggesting CNS changes may precede clinical hypertension.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Hypothesis-generating for preclinical CNS vulnerability; should not yet change sleep management in at-risk young adults.
Hypertension has been linked to impaired cognitive/CNS function, and some of these changes may precede development of frank essential hypertension. The stress and fatigue of sleep deprivation may exacerbate these cognitive changes in young adults at risk. We hypothesize that individuals at risk for hypertension will show significant declines in cognitive function during a night of sleep deprivation. Fifty-one young adults were recruited for 28-hour total sleep deprivation studies. Hypertension risk was assessed by mildly elevated resting blood pressure and by family history of hypertension. A series of cognitive memory tasks was given at four test sessions across the sleep deprivation period. Although initially comparable in cognitive performance, persons at risk showed larger declines across the night for several indices of working memory, including code substitution, category, and order recall. These results suggest that cognitive/CNS changes may parallel or precede blood pressure dysregulation in the early stages of hypertension development. The role of CNS changes in the etiology of essential hypertension is discussed.
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McCubbin et al. (2012) conducted an observational in Risk for hypertension (n=51). Risk for hypertension (prehypertension or positive family history) vs. Normotensive individuals with negative family history was evaluated on Cognitive performance decline (Risk Group × Time interaction for immediate code substitution memory) (η2 = 0.230, p=0.013). Young adults at risk for hypertension showed significantly greater declines in working memory and sustained attention during 28 hours of sleep deprivation compared to normotensive controls.
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