Sleep/Wakefulness Rhythmicity and Brain White Matter Integrity In Aging Subjects

Sleep/wakefulness rhythmicity (Tranah et al., 2011) and sleep efficiency (Lim et al., 2013) have been linked to increased risk for dementia in elderly. However, to date little is known about modifications of circadian rhythms or sleep and age-related brain structure alterations of grey (GM) and white matter (WM). GM atrophy was assessed through Voxel Based Morphometry and WM microstructural integrity was assessed through diffusion tensor (DTI) parameters.