ArticleNature communications2021
Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia.
Article in Nature communications, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 357 papers, 5 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
357 citing papers in PubMed, 5 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Summary of best evidence for non-pharmacological management of sleep disturbances in patients with mild cognitive impairment or early dementia: an integrative review.Frontiers in medicine · 2026Pooled it
- Effectiveness of behavioural sleep programs for middle-aged adults on cognition and sleep and associated behaviour change techniques: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Scientific reports · 2025Pooled it
- Tracking electrophysiological signatures of Alzheimer's disease: a systematic review of multimodal studies.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2025Pooled it
- Effect of Excessive Daytime Sleepiness and Long Sleep Duration on All Cause Dementia: A Systematic Review and Meta-analysis.The journals of gerontology. Series A, Biological sciences and medical sciences · 2025Pooled it
- Longitudinal effects of physical activity on sleep in association with hippocampal-amygdala subfield structure and functional connectivity in Alzheimer's disease.Alzheimer's & dementia : the journal of the Alzheimer's Association · 2026Trial
- Impaired sleep, depressive symptoms, and pain as determinants of physical activity and exercise intervention adherence: an exploratory analysis of a randomized clinical trial.BMC geriatrics · 2025Trial
- Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation and Tai Chi Chuan for Older Adults With Sleep Disorders and Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA network open · 2025Trial
- Difelikefalin improves itch-related sleep disruption in patients undergoing haemodialysis.Nephrology, dialysis, transplantation : official publication of the European Dialysis and Transplant Association - European Renal Association · 2024Trial
- Cognitive prescriptions for reducing dementia risk factors among Black/African Americans: feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary efficacy.Ethnicity & health · 2024Trial
- Sleep quality modifies the association between nocturnal sleep, daytime napping, and mild cognitive impairment: A population-based dose-response study.Sleep medicine: X · 2026Article
- Latent profiles of actigraphy-derived sleep regularity, timing, and duration in adults with type 2 diabetes: clinical and psychosocial correlates.Sleep medicine · 2026Article
- Sleep Disturbance Correlates with Cognitive Impairment Partly via Plasma p-Tau217: ADNI Cross-Sectional Evidence and P301L Mouse Mechanistic Observations.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026Article
- Microstructural Brain Reserve Moderates the Associations Between 24-h Movement Behaviors and Cognition in Older Adults: Cross-Sectional Findings From the AGUEDA Trial.Scandinavian journal of medicine & science in sports · 2026Article
- Sleep Disorders in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Pathological Correlations and Underlying Mechanisms.Neuroscience bulletin · 2026Review
- Sleep Deprivation and Neuronal Hyperexcitation Share Transcriptomic Signatures.Neuropsychopharmacology reports · 2026Article
- "Like Taking Part in Star Wars": Qualitative Study Using Thematic Analysis to Explore the Acceptability and Experiences of Older Adults Participating in Remote Longitudinal Sleep and Dementia Research.Journal of medical Internet research · 2026Article
- The sleep-wake cycle: molecular mechanisms, disorders, and therapeutic targets in the context of energy metabolism.Signal transduction and targeted therapy · 2026Review
- Midlife Vascular and Lifestyle Determinants of Late-Life Cognitive Decline and Dementia: A Life-Course Prevention Framework with a Gulf (GCC) Perspective.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Genetic evidence for the associations of sleep patterns with cognitive function in older adults: insights from polygenic scores in the Taiwan biobank.European archives of psychiatry and clinical neuroscience · 2026Article
297 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Sleep dysregulation is a feature of dementia but it remains unclear whether sleep duration prior to old age is associated with dementia incidence. Using data from 7959 participants of the Whitehall II study, we examined the association between sleep duration and incidence of dementia (521 diagnosed cases) using a 25-year follow-up. Here we report higher dementia risk associated with a sleep duration of six hours or less at age 50 and 60, compared with a normal (7 h) sleep duration, although this was imprecisely estimated for sleep duration at age 70 (hazard ratios (HR) 1.22 (95% confidence interval 1.01-1.48), 1.37 (1.10-1.72), and 1.24 (0.98-1.57), respectively). Persistent short sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 compared to persistent normal sleep duration was also associated with a 30% increased dementia risk independently of sociodemographic, behavioural, cardiometabolic, and mental health factors. These findings suggest that short sleep duration in midlife is associated with an increased risk of late-onset dementia.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.