Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Psychiatry. Jan 19, 2025; 15(1): 97945
Published online Jan 19, 2025. doi: 10.5498/wjp.v15.i1.97945
Near-infrared brain functional characteristics of mild cognitive impairment with sleep disorders
Heng Liao, Sha Liao, Yu-Jiao Gao, Xi Wang, Li-Hong Guo, Su Zheng, Wu Yang, Yi-Nan Dai
Heng Liao, Xi Wang, Li-Hong Guo, Su Zheng, Yi-Nan Dai, Sleep Psychosomatic Medicine Center, Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China
Sha Liao, Department of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China
Yu-Jiao Gao, Department of Orthopaedics, Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China
Wu Yang, Department of Rehabilitation, Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Medicine, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China
Co-first authors: Heng Liao and Sha Liao.
Author contributions: Liao H and Liao S contributed equally to this article and as co-first authors. Liao H and Liao S contributed to the conceptualization and writing - review and editing of this manuscript; Liao H, Liao S, and Gao YJ participated in the methodology of this study; Liao S, Wang X, and Guo LH took part in the formal analysis and investigation; Liao H, Liao S, Zheng S, Yang W, and Dai YN contributed to the writing - original draft preparation; Liao H and Gao YJ were involved in the supervision. All authors read and approved the final vision.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, No. 2024KS80.
Informed consent statement: All study participants provided informed written consent prior to study enrollment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
STROBE statement: The authors have read the STROBE Statement-checklist of items, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the STROBE Statement-checklist of items.
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/
Corresponding author: Heng Liao, MS, Associate Chief Physician, Sleep Psychosomatic Medicine Center, Taihe Hospital of Shiyan City, Affiliated Hospital of Hubei University of Medicine, No. 32 Renmin South Road, Shiyan 442000, Hubei Province, China. liaoheng522@163.com
Received: July 15, 2024
Revised: September 8, 2024
Accepted: October 28, 2024
Published online: January 19, 2025
Processing time: 155 Days and 20.7 Hours
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) has a high risk of progression to Alzheimer’s disease. The disease is often accompanied by sleep disorders, and whether sleep disorders have an effect on brain function in patients with MCI is unclear.

AIM

To explore the near-infrared brain function characteristics of MCI with sleep disorders.

METHODS

A total of 120 patients with MCI (MCI group) and 50 healthy subjects (control group) were selected. All subjects underwent the functional near-infrared spectroscopy test. Collect baseline data, Mini-Mental State Examination, Montreal Cognitive Assessment scale, fatigue severity scale (FSS) score, sleep parameter, and oxyhemoglobin (Oxy-Hb) concentration and peak time of functional near-infrared spectroscopy test during the task period. The relationship between Oxy-Hb concentration and related indexes was analyzed by Pearson or Spearmen correlation.

RESULTS

Compared with the control group, the FSS score of the MCI group was higher (t = 11.310), and the scores of Pittsburgh sleep quality index, sleep time, sleep efficiency, nocturnal sleep disturbance, and daytime dysfunction were higher (Z = -10.518, -10.368, -9.035, -10.661, -10.088). Subjective sleep quality and total sleep time scores were lower (Z = -11.592, -9.924). The sleep efficiency of the MCI group was lower, and the awakening frequency, rem sleep latency period, total sleep time, and oxygen desaturation index were higher (t = 5.969, 5.829, 2.887, 3.003, 5.937). The Oxy-Hb concentration at T0, T1, and T2 in the MCI group was lower (t = 14.940, 11.280, 5.721), and the peak time was higher (t = 18.800, 13.350, 9.827). In MCI patients, the concentration of Oxy-Hb during T0 was negatively correlated with the scores of Pittsburgh sleep quality index, sleep time, total sleep time, and sleep efficiency (r = -0.611, -0.388, -0.563, -0.356). It was positively correlated with sleep efficiency and total sleep time (r = 0.754, 0.650), and negatively correlated with oxygen desaturation index (r = -0.561) and FSS score (r = -0.526). All comparisons were P < 0.05.

CONCLUSION

Patients with MCI and sleep disorders have lower near-infrared brain function than normal people, which is related to sleep quality. Clinically, a comprehensive assessment of the near-infrared brain function of patients should be carried out to guide targeted treatment and improve curative effect.

Keywords: Mild; Cognitive impairment; Sleep disorders; Near-infrared; Brain functional; Characteristics

Core Tip: Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is a transitional state from normal cognitive development to dementia. Here, we analyzed 120 patients with MCI accompanied by sleep disorders and 50 healthy subjects and mainly observed the near-infrared brain function characteristics of the two groups and their relationship with the sleep status of patients with MCI. Through statistical analysis, we put forward the theory that the near-infrared brain function of MCI patients with sleep disorders has poor performance and is closely related to sleep quality and fatigue, which has a certain breakthrough.