Alzheimer's disease, the most common type of dementia, currently affects twice as many women as men, with minority populations predicted to witness the most significant increase in cases in the coming years, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Disturbances in sleep are well-known in dementia but have previously been explained as an outcome of the disease, not the cause. Increasing evidence, however, now implicates sleep disturbances with the development of dementia.
In a bid to better understand the relationship between sleep and cognitive outcomes in women, scientists at the Scripps Research Digital Trials Center have launched the Research Framework for Sleep Health - Neurocognitive Outcomes in Women (REFRESH-NOW) study. The study aims to assess the impact of sleep duration and sleep irregularity on neurocognition in women who are 55 years of age or older through data collected via activity trackers and a smartphone application. Led by Stuti Jaiswal, MD, PhD, a physician-scientist specializing in sleep research, REFRESH-NOW will use wrist-worn activity trackers and smartwatches to gather longitudinal sleep data over a three year period.
Wearables have the potential to revolutionize sleep research. While polysomnography is generally regarded as the gold standard for gathering sleep measurements, it only provides a snapshot of a person's sleep characteristics based on data collected during a night spent in a sleep laboratory. That tool requires a perso.
