Home › Research › Risk factors
Age-dependent associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with cognitive decline across five decades of adult life: a multi-cohort longitudinal study
Fang Y, Quick A, Oryshkewych N, Fernandez N, Lim AS, Barnes LL, Bennett DA, Steptoe A et al.. medRxiv, 2026-09-28
Topic: Brain imaging, connectivity and assessment
In the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA: n=9,473, median age 64, range 50 to ≥90), linear mixed-effects models examined age-specific differences in cognitive change (recall and fluency) associated with sleep duration, difficulty falling asleep, nocturnal awakenings, incorporating sleep-by-age-by-time interactions, with initial adjustment for sociodemographic factors and further adjustment for health and lifestyle factors. Findings In ELSA, difficulty falling asleep ≥1 time/week (vs <1 time/week) was associated with less favourable 5-year change in recall at age 50 (difference −0·12 SD, 95% CI −0·20 to −0·04), with the association attenuating and reversing towards more favourable change at older ages (p-interaction=0·009 [linear], 0·016 [quadratic]). In midlife, difficulty falling asleep was associated with faster cognitive decline, supporting its role as a modifiable risk factor. These findings were replicated across two independent cohorts in the UK and US with complementary age ranges. In midlife, difficulty falling asleep is associated with faster cognitive decline, supporting its potential as a modifiable target for intervention.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Fang, Y., Quick, A., Oryshkewych, N., Fernandez, N., Lim, A. S., Barnes, L. L., et al. (2026). Age-dependent associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with cognitive decline across five decades of adult life: a multi-cohort longitudinal study. medRxiv. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.25.26363056
Vancouver
Fang Y, Quick A, Oryshkewych N, Fernandez N, Lim AS, Barnes LL, et al. Age-dependent associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with cognitive decline across five decades of adult life: a multi-cohort longitudinal study. medRxiv. 2026. doi:10.64898/2026.09.25.26363056.
BibTeX
@article{fang2026-66dafb3e,
author = {Fang, Y. and Quick, A. and Oryshkewych, N. and Fernandez, N. and Lim, A. S. and Barnes, L. L. and Bennett, D. A. and Steptoe, A. and others},
title = {{Age-dependent associations of sleep duration and insomnia symptoms with cognitive decline across five decades of adult life: a multi-cohort longitudinal study}},
journal = {medRxiv},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.64898/2026.09.25.26363056},
url = {https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.09.25.26363056}
}
Built from the record alzhub holds for this paper, not looked up. Volume, issue and page numbers are not held in the record. The record's author list ends in “et al.”, so not every author is named. Check the citation against the original before you use it.
Key findings
- In the English Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ELSA: n=9,473, median age 64, range 50 to ≥90), linear mixed-effects models examined age-specific differences in cognitive change (recall and fluency) associated with sleep duration, difficulty falling asleep, nocturnal awakenings, incorporating sleep-by-age-by-time interactions, with initial adjustment for sociodemographic factors and further adjustment for health and lifestyle factors.
- Findings In ELSA, difficulty falling asleep ≥1 time/week (vs <1 time/week) was associated with less favourable 5-year change in recall at age 50 (difference −0·12 SD, 95% CI −0·20 to −0·04), with the association attenuating and reversing towards more favourable change at older ages (p-interaction=0·009 [linear], 0·016 [quadratic]).
- In midlife, difficulty falling asleep was associated with faster cognitive decline, supporting its role as a modifiable risk factor.
- These findings were replicated across two independent cohorts in the UK and US with complementary age ranges.
- In midlife, difficulty falling asleep is associated with faster cognitive decline, supporting its potential as a modifiable target for intervention.
New to this subject? Start with our plain-English guide: Risk factors, ranked →
Study details
- Study designcohort study
- Participants9,473
- Evidence strengthModerate
How this study scored 16/100
Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. It scored 45 on the same rubric, but non-peer-reviewed sources are capped at 16, so it shows as 16. Scored zero for effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it. We have no data on times cited, citations per year, impact for its field and year, cited by studies here, still being cited, senior author's track record, institution's track record and multi-centre collaboration, so those were left out: it earned 28 of the 62 points we could judge it on, which is 45 out of 100.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 2 / 10 | Tier 4 — not a peer-reviewed journal (medRxiv) |
| Journal's citation record | 0 / 4 | Not a journal article, so the journal's record does not count |
| Study design | 7 / 12 | A cohort study following people over time |
| Strength of evidence | 3 / 5 | Rated “moderate” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 4 / 10 | Preprint — not yet peer-reviewed. Hosted on a preprint server. |
| How recent | 5 / 5 | 2026 — within 1 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 3 / 4 | 9,473 participants |
| Effect reported | 0 / 3 | No effect size reported — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Studied in people | 3 / 3 | Studied in people (participant count stated) |
| Randomised / blinded | 0 / 2 | No randomisation or blinding stated — scores zero (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Times cited | — / 7 | No citation count (not found in OpenAlex) — left out of this score |
| Citations per year | — / 5 | No citation count or no year — left out of this score |
| Impact for its field and year | — / 6 | No field-weighted citation impact (OpenAlex has none yet) — left out of this score |
| Cited by studies here | — / 6 | Not yet checked against this library's citation graph — left out of this score |
| Still being cited | — / 4 | No yearly citation counts — left out of this score |
| Senior author's track record | — / 4 | Senior author's record not available — left out of this score |
| Institution's track record | — / 3 | No institution listed in OpenAlex — left out of this score |
| Multi-centre collaboration | — / 3 | Institutions not listed — left out of this score |
| Indexed in PubMed | 1 / 2 | Not in PubMed, but has a DOI |
| Free to read | 0 / 2 | Behind a paywall — scores zero |
| Points | 28 / 62 | Scored on 12 of 20 parts. We have no data for the rest, so they are left out: 28 of the 62 points we could judge it on is 45 out of 100. |
| Total | 45 / 100 | Capped to 16 because this is not a peer-reviewed article. |
What each of these 20 components measures, and what this score is not →
Read the original
Free copy unknown: no free-copy check has an answer for this record yet. That does not mean it is paywalled.
Related
Studies in the library that share something with this one. The line above each title says what.
Related studies in Risk factors
Also tagged “apnea”
196 studies in the library carry the topic tag “apnea”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 196 tagged studies.