Evaluation of early cognitive impairment
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Effect of sleep deprivation in mild cognitive impairment subjects
IRAS ID
237006
Contact name
Paul Edison
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
imperial College Joint Research Compliance Office
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Sleep deprivation is a technique used to cause seizures in people suspected of having a probable seizure disorder, and sleep deprived EEG has been the standard of testing subjects with suspected seizures. Electroencephalography (EEG) is a monitoring method to record electrical activity of the brain It has been suggested that sleep is necessary to consolidate memory and indeed to maintain our normal thought processes. Deprivation of sleep is likely to cause poor performance of brain function, and subjects with sleep deprivation are likely to respond to complex tasks much less efficiently. It is likely that patients who have early signs of Alzheimer's disease (mild cognitive impairment) are less likely to perform well in the cognitive measurements when they are sleep deprived, compared to healthy volunteers. In this study, we propose a novel method of early detection of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in subjects with amyloid deposition using sleep deprived memory tests.
As a part of our ongoing study we have a cohort of amyloid-positive and amyloid-negative MCI subjects and healthy control subjects. These subjects have already had different types of brain scans and detailed clinical evaluation. We aim to bring these patients to the Imperial College Clinical Research Facility, for 24 hours, or they may go home overnight with a sleep monitor. They will have detailed neuropsychometric evaluation (memory tests) on the day of arrival along with EEG. This will be followed by at least six hours sleep deprivation (they will be allowed to sleep for only two hours during the night). This will be followed by detailed neuropsychometric evaluation, and repeat EEG.REC name
London - South East Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
20/LO/0365
Date of REC Opinion
24 Mar 2020
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion