DLB-PSG
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Does non-rapid eye movement sleep differ in dementia with Lewy bodies? A home polysomnography study (DLB-PSG)
IRAS ID
307601
Contact name
Lyndsey Dixon
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Summary of Research:
Dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) is the second most common form of dementia. Sleep problems are a common feature of DLB, and the best-understood sleep symptom in DLB is rapid eye movement (REM) behaviour disorder, where people appear to act out their dreams during REM sleep. However, we do not know much about what happens during non-REM sleep in people with DLB.There are two relevant features of brain activity that occur during non-REM sleep; these are known as sleep spindles and slow-wave sleep. These features of sleep originate from parts of the brain that are affected by DLB. Additionally, these features of sleep are very strongly associated with attention, learning and memory, which is impaired in people with DLB.
In this study, we will measure brain activity during sleep in people with DLB, Alzheimer’s dementia (AD) and people without dementia, using a non-invasive technique called polysomnography. We will examine if these features of non-REM sleep are different in DLB and AD, and if they are associated with learning and memory in DLB.
We expect that sleep spindles and slow-wave sleep will be different in DLB. This might help us to use home-based sleep monitoring to improve the diagnosis of DLB.Summary of Findings:
In this project, we had three aims. Our first aim was to assess whether we could successfully use a very accurate sleep monitoring technique called Polysomnography ('PSG' for short) to measure special patterns of brain activity during sleep. We did this in the homes of people who had dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB), Alzheimer's dementia (AD) or who did not have dementia. PSG is normally done overnight in a hospital or research setting, but we wanted to trial the use of PSG to measure sleep overnight in people's homes, so that in future, more people with dementia might be able to take part in sleep research studies. We wanted to make sure that people with dementia were able to tolerate having the equipment on overnight to measure their sleep, and we also wanted to make sure that our overnight sleep monitoring equipment could accurately record and measure the brain activity during sleep. Our second aim was to examine if specific patterns of brain activity during sleep were different in people who have dementia with Lewy bodies (DLB) compared to Alzheimer's dementia (AD) and people who did not have dementia. Our third aim was to look at if brain activity patterns during sleep were related to attention, memory and thinking performance in people with DLB. Overall, we found that most people with DLB were able to successfully have their sleep monitored at home, over consecutive days, using our PSG equipment. We also found that the people who took part did not have any complaints or concerns in relation to their levels of comfort. Overall, we found that we can use PSG to accurately measure the brain activity of people with DLB during sleep in their usual home environment. We are now checking all of the information collected during our project so that we can see if there is a relationship between brain activity during sleep and attention, memory, and thinking performance in DLB.REC name
Wales REC 1
REC reference
22/WA/0057
Date of REC Opinion
28 Mar 2022
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion