Associations Between Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease and Sleep in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults.
- 1Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Competence Center of Sleep Medicine, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of the Freie Universität at Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- 2Department of Psychiatry and Neurosciences, Clinical Neurobiology Lab, Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Corporate Member of the Freie Universität at Berlin and Humboldt Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
- 3Sant Pau Memory Unit, Institut de Recerca Sant Pau, Hospital de la Santa Creu i Sant Pau, Barcelona, Spain.
Abstract
Objective
Sleep disturbances have been implicated as a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), but evidence linking plasma AD biomarkers to sleep in cognitively unimpaired individuals remains limited. The present study examined associations between evening, morning, and overnight changes in plasma AD biomarkers and measures of sleep macro- and microstructure and subjective sleep quality in older adults.Methods
Forty cognitively unimpaired adults aged 55 to 75 years (20 females) without sleep or mental disorders underwent overnight polysomnography. Plasma AD biomarkers p-tau181, p-tau217, t-tau, Aβ42, Aβ40, and Aβ42/40 were assessed in the evening and in the morning and related to sleep macro- and microstructure (sleep spindles, EEG spectral power), and subjective sleep measures by using correlational analyzes.Results
Higher evening t-tau and p-tau181 were associated with reduced N3 sleep, whereas higher morning t-tau and greater overnight increases in t-tau were related to longer nocturnal wakefulness. Amyloid-β measures showed the most consistent associations with sleep microstructure. Higher Aβ42 and Aβ40 concentrations were associated with shorter duration and lower density of sleep spindles, particularly at frontal sites. Higher evening and morning amyloid-β concentrations were also associated with lower alpha, beta, and spindle-frequency EEG power, mainly during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Tau associations with EEG spectral power were less consistent.Interpretation
In cognitively unimpaired older adults, plasma AD biomarkers were associated with PSG sleep features, especially amyloid-β markers with sleep microstructure. These exploratory, correlational findings suggest that sleep spindles and spectral power may reflect early AD-related biological processes but require replication in larger cohorts.
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BibTeX
@article{sauter2026associations,
title = {{Associations Between Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease and Sleep in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults.}},
author = {Cornelia Sauter and Hans Dorn and Julian Hellmann-Regen and Ana Bueno-Lopez and Verena van Ginneken and Heidi Danker-Hopfe},
journal = {Annals of clinical and translational neurology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1002/acn3.70562},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42904584},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Associations Between Biomarkers of Alzheimer's Disease and Sleep in Cognitively Unimpaired Older Adults.
AU - Cornelia Sauter
AU - Hans Dorn
AU - Julian Hellmann-Regen
AU - Ana Bueno-Lopez
AU - Verena van Ginneken
AU - Heidi Danker-Hopfe
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/21
JO - Annals of clinical and translational neurology
DO - 10.1002/acn3.70562
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42904584
AB - Objective Sleep disturbances have been implicated as a risk factor for developing Alzheimer's disease (AD), but evidence linking plasma AD biomarkers to sleep in cognitively unimpaired individuals remains limited. The present study examined associations between evening, morning, and overnight changes in plasma AD biomarkers and measures of sleep macro- and microstructure and subjective sleep quality in older adults.Methods Forty cognitively unimpaired adults aged 55 to 75 years (20 females) without sleep or mental disorders underwent overnight polysomnography. Plasma AD biomarkers p-tau181, p-tau217, t-tau, Aβ42, Aβ40, and Aβ42/40 were assessed in the evening and in the morning and related to sleep macro- and microstructure (sleep spindles, EEG spectral power), and subjective sleep measures by using correlational analyzes.Results Higher evening t-tau and p-tau181 were associated with reduced N3 sleep, whereas higher morning t-tau and greater overnight increases in t-tau were related to longer nocturnal wakefulness. Amyloid-β measures showed the most consistent associations with sleep microstructure. Higher Aβ42 and Aβ40 concentrations were associated with shorter duration and lower density of sleep spindles, particularly at frontal sites. Higher evening and morning amyloid-β concentrations were also associated with lower alpha, beta, and spindle-frequency EEG power, mainly during non-rapid eye movement sleep. Tau associations with EEG spectral power were less consistent.Interpretation In cognitively unimpaired older adults, plasma AD biomarkers were associated with PSG sleep features, especially amyloid-β markers with sleep microstructure. These exploratory, correlational findings suggest that sleep spindles and spectral power may reflect early AD-related biological processes but require replication in larger cohorts.
SN - 2328-9503
ER -