1018 Sleep and Fatigue: Examining the Impact on Cognitive Function in Older Adults Living with HIV

Abstract

Introduction: Poor sleep affects 75% of older adults living with HIV, negatively impacting health. The purpose of this study was to examine the associations between sleep, fatigue and cognitive function in older adults living with HIV with well-controlled HIV virus. Method(s): Forty-three adults aged 50 years and older living with HIV were recruited for this study. Participants provided demographic and health information. Participants wore actigraph watches continuously for one week, while completing a daily sleep diary, fatigue instrument, and Epworth Sleepiness Scale. After one week participants returned and completed the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and performed cognitive testing including the NIH Toolbox Cognition Battery and the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA). Result(s): Fluid cognition (measured with the Cognition Battery) positively correlated with hours of sleep measured via actigraph the night immediately prior to testing (p = .008), but not by average hours slept over the week. Average daily fatigue and daytime sleepiness were also correlated with fluid cognition (p = .012, p = .032 respectively). Similar results were found when cognition was measured using the MoCA, with sleep (p = .001), average fatigue (p = .017), and daytime sleepiness (p = .028) all correlated with cognition. When sleep was measured subjectively, Pearson correlation indicated that there was a statistically significant negative relationship of moderate strength between global sleep and cognitive function (r = -.47, p = .015). Conclusion(s): The study provides evidence that poor sleep, measured objectively or subjectively, is associated with cognitive impairment. Despite we-controlled HIV virus, 86% of study participants had global sleep scores indicating poor sleep. Sleep measured objectively resulted in less nightly sleep than by subjective measure, 4.5 vs 6.07 average hours per night. Studying effective interventions to improve sleep should be a next step as a way of improving cognitive function for this population.