Mei X, Zou CJ, Zheng CY, Hu J, Zhou DS. Effect of bright-light therapy on depression and anxiety of a patient with Alzheimer’s disease combined with sleep disorder: A case report. World J Psychiatry 2024; 14(12): 1982-1987 [DOI: 10.5498/wjp.v14.i12.1982]
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Author contributions: Zou CJ and Hu J participated in patient management and follow-up and collected patient information; Mei X searched the literature for the case description and wrote the first draft of manuscript; Zhou DS and Zheng CY revised the first draft and prepared the final manuscript; and all authors are actively involved in all steps of the contribution.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient and his legally authorized representative for the publication of this case report in accordance with the journal’s patient consent policy.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Received: September 14, 2024 Revised: October 29, 2024 Accepted: November 11, 2024 Published online: December 19, 2024 Processing time: 74 Days and 2.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common type of dementia due to neuronal impairment. In addition, psychobehavioral symptoms including severe sleep disorders, depression and anxiety can occur in most patients with AD.
CASE SUMMARY
We report a case of a 68-year-old woman with a 2-year history of AD. She initially presented with memory loss, progressively more severe, leading to a depressive and anxious status. The clinical symptoms also included severe sleep disturbances. Considering the age and health state of the patient, a non-pharmacological treatment of bright light therapy was used to improve her sleep quality. The treatment was provided for 30 minutes twice a day, during 8:30 am to 9:00 am and 16:30 pm to 17:00 pm. After 4 weeks of therapy, the sleep quality notably improved, with a marked decrease in daytime sleep, increase in nighttime sleep, and disappearance of nocturnal activity. The depression and anxiety were also suppressed significantly.
CONCLUSION
This case report suggested that bright light therapy can have a positive effect on sleep quality in elderly patients with AD and can be used as an effective and safe non-pharmacological treatment.
Core Tip: This report describes the case of a patient who developed Alzheimer’s disease, accompanied by sleep disorders, depression and anxiety; we provided bright-light therapy (BLT) to improve her sleep quality. BLT can reduce the duration of daily sleep and nighttime restlessness, with a higher efficacy than medications in improving sleep. This case report suggested that BLT can have a positive effect on sleep quality in elderly patients with Alzheimer’s disease and can be used as an effective and safe non-pharmacological treatment.
