Sleep disturbances in Alzheimer’s disease

Summary

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is the most common form of late-life dementia. Significant sleep disturbance is an extremely common complaint in AD, affecting as much as half of clinic-based or community AD cases. Typically sleep disturbance in AD is multi-factorial. The major causes of sleep disruption in dementia include: (1) age-dependent physiological changes that arise as part of normal, ‘non-pathological’ aging; (2) sleep problems due to medical and psychiatric disorders, and their treatments; (3) primary sleep disorders; (4) poor sleep-related habits and behaviors, often collectively referred to as poor ‘sleep hygiene’; or (5) some combination of these factors. The various causes of sleep disturbance in AD are reviewed and ‘state-of-the-art’ treatments for sleep disturbance in AD are described. Finally, a research agenda is proposed, describing the major research gaps that will need to be filled before a definitive guide to effectively treating sleep disturbances in AD can truly be developed.