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Multi-dimensional sleep health and dementia risk: a prospective study in the UK Biobank
Tianyi Huang, May A. Beydoun, Sina Kianersi, Susan S Redline, Lenore J. Launer. BMC Medicine, 2025-07-07
Topic: Risk, prevention and care in population studies
There were 7458 incident all-cause dementia cases (1636 VaD, 3376 AD) after 4,165,352 person-years of follow-up. After adjusting for potential confounders, the hazard ratio (95% CI) comparing participants with SHS of 0-2 (worst sleep) vs 6-7 (best sleep) was 1.76 (1.52, 2.05) for all-cause dementia (p-trend < 0.0001), 2.13 (1.61, 2.83) for VaD (p-trend < 0.0001), and 1.55 (1.22, 1.97) for AD (p-trend < 0.57). We identified six multi-dimensional sleep health patterns, including relatively healthy sleep, insomnia with short sleep duration, non-restorative sleep with evening chronotype, insomnia with non-restorative sleep, snoring with daytime sleepiness and napping, and severely disturbed sleep with multiple symptoms and daytime impairment. Compared with the healthy sleep pattern, all other five sleep patterns were significantly associated with 8-85% higher all-cause dementia risk and 11-148% higher VaD risk, whereas only the severely disturbed sleep pattern was associated with 56% higher AD risk (95% CI: 1.21, 2.01). Poor multi-dimensional sleep health, either assessed by a simple SHS or characterized by sleep clusters, was associated with higher incident dementia risk. There is substantial heterogeneity in multi-dimensional sleep health patterns and their associations with different dementia outcomes. Understanding the specific sleep health profiles associated with dementia risk may help to identify high-risk populations and inform more targeted interventions.
Cite this study APA, Vancouver, BibTeX · download .bib or .ris
APA 7th
Huang, T., Beydoun, M. A., Kianersi, S., Redline, S. S., & Launer, L. J. (2025). Multi-dimensional sleep health and dementia risk: a prospective study in the UK Biobank. BMC Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-04251-3
Vancouver
Huang T, Beydoun MA, Kianersi S, Redline SS, Launer LJ. Multi-dimensional sleep health and dementia risk: a prospective study in the UK Biobank. BMC Medicine. 2025. doi:10.1186/s12916-025-04251-3. PMID: 40624639.
BibTeX
@article{huang2025-40624639,
author = {Huang, Tianyi and Beydoun, May A. and Kianersi, Sina and Redline, Susan S and Launer, Lenore J.},
title = {{Multi-dimensional sleep health and dementia risk: a prospective study in the UK Biobank}},
journal = {BMC Medicine},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.1186/s12916-025-04251-3},
pmid = {40624639},
url = {https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-025-04251-3}
}
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Key findings
- There were 7458 incident all-cause dementia cases (1636 VaD, 3376 AD) after 4,165,352 person-years of follow-up.
- After adjusting for potential confounders, the hazard ratio (95% CI) comparing participants with SHS of 0-2 (worst sleep) vs 6-7 (best sleep) was 1.76 (1.52, 2.05) for all-cause dementia (p-trend < 0.0001), 2.13 (1.61, 2.83) for VaD (p-trend < 0.0001), and 1.55 (1.22, 1.97) for AD (p-trend < 0.57).
- We identified six multi-dimensional sleep health patterns, including relatively healthy sleep, insomnia with short sleep duration, non-restorative sleep with evening chronotype, insomnia with non-restorative sleep, snoring with daytime sleepiness and napping, and severely disturbed sleep with multiple symptoms and daytime impairment.
- Compared with the healthy sleep pattern, all other five sleep patterns were significantly associated with 8-85% higher all-cause dementia risk and 11-148% higher VaD risk, whereas only the severely disturbed sleep pattern was associated with 56% higher AD risk (95% CI: 1.21, 2.01).
- Poor multi-dimensional sleep health, either assessed by a simple SHS or characterized by sleep clusters, was associated with higher incident dementia risk.
Why it matters
In this UK Biobank study, people with the worst sleep health scores had a higher risk of all-cause dementia and vascular dementia, and only the most severely disturbed sleep pattern was linked to higher Alzheimer's risk. The findings are observational, so they cannot prove that improving sleep prevents dementia.
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Study details
- Participants313,248
- Evidence strengthLow
How this study scored 52/100
Published in a peer-reviewed journal. Scored zero for study design, effect reported and randomised / blinded because the record does not state it.
| Component | Points | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Journal tier | 7 / 10 | Tier 3 — peer-reviewed journal (BMC Medicine) |
| Journal's citation record | 3 / 4 | BMC Medicine: journal h-index 259 (OpenAlex, 2026-10-29) |
| Study design | 0 / 12 | No study design recorded — scores zero, not guessed (not stated in the record — scored 0) |
| Strength of evidence | 1 / 5 | Rated “low” in our summary |
| Peer-review validation | 10 / 10 | Peer-reviewed. Published as an article in a named peer-reviewed journal. |
| How recent | 4 / 5 | 2025 — within 3 year(s) of the newest study here |
| Sample size | 4 / 4 | 313,248 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 | 2 / 7 | Cited 10 times (OpenAlex, 2026-10-10) |
| Citations per year | 2 / 5 | 3.3 citations a year over 3 year(s) since 2025 |
| Impact for its field and year | 3 / 6 | Cited 6.4× the average for papers of its field and year (OpenAlex FWCI) |
| Cited by studies here | 0 / 6 | No other study in this library cites it |
| Still being cited | 1 / 4 | Cited 10 times in 2024–2026 (2026 still in progress; OpenAlex) |
| Senior author's track record | 4 / 4 | Last-listed author Lenore J. Launer: h-index 180 (OpenAlex, whole career) |
| Institution's track record | 3 / 3 | Harvard University: institution h-index 3,235 (OpenAlex) |
| Multi-centre collaboration | 1 / 3 | OpenAlex lists 3 institution(s) in 1 country |
| Indexed in PubMed | 2 / 2 | Indexed in PubMed (PMID 40624639) |
| Free to read | 2 / 2 | Free to read |
| Total | 52 / 100 | — |
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Also tagged “biobank”
1,084 studies in the library carry the topic tag “biobank”; these are this study's neighbours in a fixed, alphabetical-by-hash tour of them, not the closest in content. All 1,084 tagged studies.