Sleep EEG and Dementia

 September 28, 2020

Association of Sleep Electroencephalography-Based Brain Age Index With Dementia

Elissa Ye, MSc¹; Haoqi Sun, PhD¹; Michael J. Leone, MSc¹; et alLuis Paixao, MD¹; Robert J. Thomas, MD²; Alice D. Lam, MD, PhD¹; M. Brandon Westover, MD, PhD¹

Author Affiliations Article Information

JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(9):e2017357. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2020.17357

Key Points

Question  Can an electroencephalography-based brain age index, calculated as the difference between chronological and estimated brain age through sleep electroencephalography, serve as a potential biomarker associated with dementia?

Findings  This cross-sectional study of 9834 polysomnograms using machine learning found that brain age index increased monotonically from nondementia to dementia subpopulations.

Meaning  These findings suggest that brain age index may be a useful biomarker associated with dementia and could have utility as a screening tool for the presence of underlying neurodegenerative disease and monitoring of disease progression.

Abstract

Importance  Dementia is an increasing cause of disability and loss of independence in the elderly population yet remains largely underdiagnosed. A biomarker for dementia that can identify individuals with or at risk for developing dementia may help close this diagnostic gap.

Objective  To investigate the association between a sleep electroencephalography-based brain age index (BAI), the difference between chronological age and brain age estimated using the sleep electroencephalogram, and dementia.