Mehdi Ghasemi
University of Massachusetts School of Medicine, USA
Title: Sleep Disturbances and Cognition in Neurodegenerative Disorders
Biography
Biography: Mehdi Ghasemi
Abstract
There is no doubt that the elderly population is growing worldwide and in the USA. As age advances, the likelihood of sleep disturbances increases, which leads to alterations in the quality and quantity of sleep. Complaints about sleep disturbances have been reported in approximately 50% of seniors more than 65 years old living at home and 65% of those residing in nursing home facilities. Persistent sleep disorders in these group of people are associated with impaired cognition, diminished intellect, poor memory, confusion, and psychomotor retardation all of which may be misinterpreted as dementia. Therefore, understanding of sleep disturbances and the efficient therapeutic approach to these disorders plays a key role in decreasing the likelihood of cognitive impairment in elderly and those patients with demetia. In this talk, we review the sleep pattern changes related to aging, and recent pathophysiologic theories underlying sleep diturbances (such as glymphatic system theory) and related cognitive impairment in patients with neurodegenerative disorders (such as Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, dementia with Lewy bodies, vascular dementia, and frontotemporal dementia). We also discuss the most common sleep disorders related to the neurodegenerative disorders and therapeutic approaches to these disoroders.