Abstract
Information about the association between cognitive functions, such as copying function, and sleep disturbances in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is lacking. This cross-sectional observational study aimed to investigate the association between copying function and self-reported sleep quality disturbances and disease severity in an elderly COPD population.
Cognitive function performances, assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, were compared in 562 ambulatory COPD patients with and without sleep disturbances; assessed using the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly questionnaire; and stratified by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grades.
Sleep disturbances overall were not correlated with cognitive functioning. A trend was revealed towards worse design copying in patients with sleep disturbances overall. GOLD I patients with difficulties falling asleep and nocturnal awakenings had worse copying ability compared to GOLD I patients without these sleep disturbances. Copying ability was worse for GOLD III than GOLD I, orientation was worse for GOLD II than GOLD I and language was worse for GOLD II and III than GOLD I.
To conclude, sleep disturbances seem to be a weak correlate of cognitive functioning, and are not a marker of disease severity.
Abstract
Sleep disturbances are a weak correlate of cognitive functioning in COPD http://ow.ly/gUhD301PvcQ
Footnotes
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Support statement: This study was supported by a European Respiratory Society Fellowship and Boehringer Ingelheim, Italy. Funding information for this article has been deposited with the Open Funder Registry.
Conflict of interest: None declared.
- Received April 29, 2016.
- Accepted June 18, 2016.
- Copyright ©ERS 2016
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