New and Noteworthy Information—April 2015
Persistent insomnia is associated with increased risk for all-cause and cardiopulmonary mortality and a steeper increase in inflammation, according to a study published March 12 in American Journal of Medicine. Researchers assessed the persistence of insomnia complaints in 1,409 adult participants from the Tucson Epidemiological Study of Airway Obstructive Disease. The study began in 1972 and included multiple follow-up surveys until 1996 and continuous mortality follow-up data until 2011. Using data from the survey from 1972 through 1973 and from the 1990 through 1992 follow-up survey, the researchers found that serum C-reactive protein (CRP) levels increased over time in people with persistent insomnia. In those subjects for whom CRP data were available, persistent insomnia was associated with a 58% increase in mortality risk, after adjustments for confounding factors.
Prolonged sleep is a potentially useful marker to determine increased future stroke risk in a healthy aging population, according to a study published online ahead of print February 25 in Neurology. Researchers followed 9,692 people with a mean age of 62 who had never had a stroke. Participants were asked about their sleeping habits once and then again four years later. The participants were followed for an average of 9.5 years, and 346 people had a stroke. Of the 986 people who slept more than eight hours per night, 52 had a stroke, compared with 211 of the 6,684 people who slept an average amount. The relationship between long sleep and stroke remained the same after researchers accounted for high cholesterol, high blood pressure, physical activity, and BMI.
Higher levels of physical activity may reduce the effects of white matter hyperintensity burden on motor function in healthy older adults, according to a study published online ahead of print March 11 in Neurology. Researchers examined 167 people (average age, 80) who wore movement monitors on their wrists for as long as 11 days to measure exercise and nonexercise activity. Participants also took 11 motor performance tests. For the people in the top 10% of activity, greater amounts of brain damage did not influence scores on the movement tests. However, for people in the less active half of the population, greater amounts of brain damage were associated with lower scores on the movement tests. For all participants, the average score on the movement tests was 1.04.
Patients with Parkinson’s disease have reduced low- and high-contrast visual acuity, compared with controls, according to a study published January 1 in Journal of Parkinson’s Disease. Thirty-two patients with Parkinson’s disease and 71 control subjects underwent a neurologic examination, which included the Unified Parkinson’s Disease Rating Scale and vision testing using the Variable Contrast Acuity Chart displayed on an iPad. The chart was displayed at low and high contrast at distances of 40 cm and 2 m. Based on the number of letters correctly identified, patients with Parkinson’s disease saw about 10% fewer letters than control subjects in the low-contrast tests at either distance and in the high-contrast tests at 2 m. Researchers found no significant difference between Parkinson’s disease and control subjects in the high-contrast testing at 40 cm.
Statins may not lower the risk for Parkinson’s disease, according to a study published online ahead of print January 14 in Movement Disorders. The researchers examined blood cholesterol levels, medications, and Parkinson’s disease status in participants in the ongoing, long-term Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities study. Cholesterol readings were taken at three-year intervals between 1987 and 1998. Statin use before 1998 was associated with significantly higher risk of Parkinson’s disease after 1998. Higher total cholesterol, however, was associated with lower risk for Parkinson’s disease after adjustment for statin use and confounders. Compared with the lowest tertile of average total cholesterol, the odds ratios for Parkinson’s disease were 0.56 for the second tertile and 0.43 for the third tertile. These data are inconsistent with the hypothesis that statins protect against Parkinson’s disease.
—Kimberly Williams
