Interleukin-6 Interacts with Sleep Apnea Severity when Predicting Incident Alzheimer’s Disease Dementia

Article type: Short Communication

Authors: Baril, Andrée-Ann^{a; b; *} | Beiser, Alexa S.^{a; b; c} | Redline, Susan^{d; e; f} | McGrath, Emer R.^{a; g} | Gottlieb, Daniel J.^{d; f; h} | Aparicio, Hugo^{a; b} | Seshadri, Sudha^{a; b; i} | Himali, Jayandra J.^{a; b; c; i; j; 1} | Pase, Matthew P.^{a; k; l; 1; *}

Affiliations: [a] The Framingham Heart Study, Framingham, MA, USA | [b] Department of Neurology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA | [c] Department of Biostatistics, Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA | [d] Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders, Brigham & Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA | [e] Department of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA | [f] Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA | [g] HRB Clinical Research Facility, National University of Ireland Galway, Galway, Ireland | [h] VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA | [i] Glenn Biggs Institute for Alzheimer’s & Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA | [j] Department of Population Health Sciences, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio, TX, USA | [k] Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, VIC, Australia | [l] Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA

Correspondence: [*] Correspondence to: Andrée-Ann Baril, PhD, Boston University School of Medicine, L5, Local 500D, 72E Concord Street, Boston, MA 02118, USA. Tel.: +1 514 705 0691; E-mail: barilaa@bu.edu. and Matthew P. Pase, PhD, Turner Institute for Brain and Mental Health, School of Psychological Sciences, Monash University, Room 617, 18 Innovation Walk, Clayton VIC 3800, Australia. Tel.: +61 401 267 924; E-mail: matthewpase@gmail.com.

Note: [1] These authors contributed equally.

Abstract: Because of their roles as potential risk factors, we evaluated whether obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) severity interacts with interleukin-6 (IL-6) in predicting incident dementia of the Alzheimer’s type (DAT). In 269 dementia-free participants, IL-6 and the apnea-hypopnea index (AHI) were measured at baseline and incident DAT was surveilled for up to 22.8 years. Cox models revealed a significant interaction: In the lowest IL-6 quartile only, a higher AHI was associated with an elevated risk of DAT. The association between OSA severity and incident DAT might be especially apparent in the absence of inflammation or absence of potential benefits from IL-6.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease, dementia, inflammation, interleukin-6, sleep apnea, sleep-disordered breathing, sleep disorders

DOI: 10.3233/JAD-200545

Journal: Journal of Alzheimer's Disease, vol. 79, no. 4, pp. 1451-1457, 2021