New research linked heavy snoring and sleep apnea with premature memory and thinking decline.
The findings also suggest that treating the disorder with a breathing machine could help delay some of these effects, the American Academy of Neurology reported.
"Abnormal breathing patterns during sleep such as heavy snoring and sleep apnea are common in the elderly, affecting about 52 percent of men and 26 percent of women," said study author Ricardo Osorio, of the NYU Langone Medical Center in New York.
To make their findings the researchers looked at 2,470 people between the ages of 55 and 90 who had either normal cognition, were in early stages of mild cognitive impairment (MCI), or had developed Alzheimer's disease.
The data showed those with sleep breathing problems were diagnosed with MCI an average of about a decade earlier than those who breathed normally at night. Out of those that developed MCI or Alzheimer's disease during the study, those with sleep breathing problems showed signs of MCI at an average age of 77, compared with 90 in the normal breathing group.
The team found those with sleep breathing problems also tended to develop Alzheimer's disease five years earlier than those with healthy breathing, at an average age of 83 versus 88. The researchers found individuals who treated their sleep breathing problems with a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine were diagnosed with MIC at an average age of 82 as opposed to 72.
"The age of onset of MCI for people whose breathing problems were treated was almost identical to that of people who did not have any breathing problems at all," Osorio said. "Given that so many older adults have sleep breathing problems, these results are exciting--we need to examine whether using CPAP could possibly help prevent or delay memory and thinking problems."
The findings were published in a recent edition of the journal Neurology.
