Carvalho DZ, Kremen V, Mivalt F, St Louis EK, McCarter SJ, Bukartyk J, Przybelski SA, Kamykowski MG, Spychalla AJ, Machulda MM, Boeve BF, Petersen RC, Jack CR Jr, Lowe VJ, Graff-Radford J, Worrell GA, Somers VK, Varga AW, and Vemuri P
Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is associated with an increased risk for cognitive impairment and dementia, which likely involves Alzheimer's disease pathology. Non-rapid eye movement slow-wave activity (SWA) has been implicated in amyloid clearance, but it has not been studied in the context of longitudinal amyloid accumulation in OSA. This longitudinal retrospective study aims to investigate the relationship between polysomnographic and electrophysiological SWA features and amyloid accumulation. From the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging cohort, we identified 71 participants ≥60 years old with OSA (mean baseline age = 72.9 ± 7.5 years, 60.6% male, 93% cognitively unimpaired) who had at least 2 consecutive Amyloid Pittsburgh Compound B (PiB)-PET scans and a polysomnographic study within 5 years of the baseline scan and before the second scan. Annualized PiB-PET accumulation [global ΔPiB(log)/year] was estimated by the difference between the second and first log-transformed global PiB-PET uptake estimations divided by the interval between scans (years). Sixty-four participants were included in SWA analysis. SWA was characterized by the mean relative spectral power density (%) in slow oscillation (SO: 0.5-0.9 Hz) and delta (1-3.9 Hz) frequency bands and by their downslopes (SO-slope and delta-slope, respectively) during the diagnostic portion of polysomnography. We fit linear regression models to test for associations among global ΔPiB(log)/year, SWA features (mean SO% and delta% or mean SO-slope and delta-slope), and OSA severity markers, after adjusting for age at baseline PiB-PET, APOE ɛ4 and baseline amyloid positivity. For 1 SD increase in SO% and SO-slope, global ΔPiB(log)/year increased by 0.0033 (95% CI: 0.0001; 0.0064, P = 0.042) and 0.0069 (95% CI: 0.0009; 0.0129, P = 0.026), which were comparable to 32% and 59% of the effect size associated with baseline amyloid positivity, respectively. Delta-slope was associated with a reduction in global ΔPiB(log)/year by -0.0082 (95% CI: -0.0143; -0.0021, P = 0.009). Sleep apnoea severity was not associated with amyloid accumulation. Regional associations were stronger in the pre-frontal region. Both slow-wave slopes had more significant and widespread regional associations. Annualized PiB-PET accumulation was positively associated with SO and SO-slope, which may reflect altered sleep homeostasis due to increased homeostatic pressure in the setting of unmet sleep needs, increased synaptic strength, and/or hyper-excitability in OSA. Delta-slope was inversely associated with PiB-PET accumulation, suggesting it may represent residual physiological activity. Further investigation of SWA dynamics in the presence of sleep disorders before and after treatment is necessary for understanding the relationship between amyloid accumulation and SWA physiology., Competing Interests: D.Z.C. is supported by the NIA/NIH. E.K.S. has received research support from the Mayo Clinic CCaTS, NIH, Michael J. Fox Foundation and Sunovion, Inc. M.M.M. is supported by the NIA/NIH. B.F.B. has served as an investigator for clinical trials sponsored by Alector, Biogen, Cognition Therapeutics, EIP Pharma and Transposon and served on the Scientific Advisory Board of the Tau Consortium. R.C.P. has served as a consultant for Roche, Inc., Merck, Inc., Genentech, Inc., Biogen, Inc. and GE Healthcare and received royalties from the Oxford University Press for the publication of Mild Cognitive Impairment. V.J.L. has served as a consultant for Bayer Schering Pharma, Piramal Life Sciences, Life Molecular Imaging, Eisai Inc., Eli Lilly, AVID Radiopharmaceuticals and Merck Research and received research support from GE Healthcare, Siemens Molecular Imaging, AVID Radiopharmaceuticals and the NIH. C.R.J. is supported by the NIA/NIH. J.G.-R. is supported by the NIH. He is on the drug safety medical board for NINDS and is the site PI for a clinical trial funded by Eisai. G.A.W. is supported by the NIH. He has licenced intellectual property to NeuroOne Inc. and Cadence Neuroscience Inc. He has served on the Scientific Advisory Boards for LivaNova Inc., NeuroPace Inc., UNEEG Inc and NeuroOne Inc. He has received royalties from NeuroOne Inc. V.K.S. has served as a consultant for ResMed, Zoll, Bayer, Lilly, Huxley, Apnimed, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Axsome and is on the Scientific Advisory Board for Sleep Number Corporation. A.W.V. has served as a consultant for Jazz Pharmaceuticals. He is supported by R01 AG066870 and R01 AG080609. P.V. is supported by the NIA/NIH. The remaining authors report no competing interests., (© The Author(s) 2024. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Guarantors of Brain.)