EEG sleep patterns as a function of normal and pathological aging in man

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Abstract

Four of five nights of uninterrupted recording of EEG and rapid eye-movement (EM) were obtained in fifteen young normal (YN), fifteen aged normal (AN) and fifteen chronic brain syndrome (CBS) subjects. All subjects were studied in the absence of drugs and with care taken to prevent daytime sleep.

Compared to YN and AN groups, CBS subjects showed significantly lower values for total sleep time, emergent stage 1 EEG, EM activity and the latter two measures expressed as per cent of sleep time. Although the total amounts of NREM and REM sleep did not differ significantly for the YN and AN groups, the latter subjects manifested prolonged wakefulness and frequent interruptions of sleep. In these respects, results for the AN subjects were intermediate between those of the YN and CBS groups, differing significantly from both. The average durations of successive periods of NREM and REM sleep were similar in the YN and AN groups; in contrast, reduction in both stages of sleep led to an overall contraction of the sleep cycle in the CBS group.

Statistically significant correlation coefficients were obtained between tests of cognitive function, independently administered and scored, and a number of sleep variables in both the AN and CBS groups. While brain metabolism and waking EEG have shown similar relationships in chronic brain syndrome, neither of these measures has been able to detect the more subtle changes in brain function that occur with normal aging. It therefore appears that the EEG of sleep may prove to be a diagnostic and research tool of special value to geriatric psychiatry.

The quantitative changes in sleep with normal and pathological aging are similar to changes which take place in rate of overall brain metabolism. These findings, taken in association with the relationships of sleep variables to psychometric test scores in the AN and CBS group, are consistent with the hypothesis that sleep is intimately concerned with the central nervous system processes underlying cognition.

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    Present address: Department of Psychiatry, Downstate Medical Center, State University of New York, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11203.

    Present address: Department of Psychology, University of Missouri, Springfield, Missouri.

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