title: Self-reported sleep quality predicts poor cognitive performance in healthy older adults.
abstract: This study examined the relation between sleep quality and cognitive performance in older adults, controlling for common medical comorbidities. Participants were community volunteers who, while not selected on the basis of their sleep, did report substantial variability in sleep quality. Good and poor sleepers differed on tests of working memory, attentional set shifting, and abstract problem solving but not on processing speed, inhibitory function, or episodic memory. Poor sleep was also associated with increased depressive symptomatology but only for functional symptoms (e.g., decreased concentration) and not for mood (e.g., sadness). The relationships between sleep quality and cognition were not explained by confound factors such as cerebrovascular disease, depression, or medication usage. Sleep problems may contribute to performance variability between elderly individuals but only in certain cognitive domains.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, PA 15213, USA. nebesrd@upmc.edu
authors.forename: Robert D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Nebes
authors.forename: Daniel J
authors.initials: DJ
authors.lastname: Buysse
authors.forename: Edythe M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Halligan
authors.forename: Patricia R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Houck
authors.forename: Timothy H
authors.initials: TH
authors.lastname: Monk
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001288:Attention; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D003118:Color Perception; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007266:Inhibition, Psychological; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011340:Problem Solving; D011594:Psychometrics; D012660:Semantics; D012691:Serial Learning; D012718:Set, Psychology; D007319:Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology