Sleep quality disturbances and cognitive functioning in elderly patients with COPD

Information about the association between cognitive functions, such as copying function, and sleep disturbances in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is lacking. This cross-sectional observational study aimed to investigate the association between copying function and self-reported sleep quality disturbances and disease severity in an elderly COPD population. Cognitive function performances, assessed using the Mini-Mental State Examination, were compared in 562 ambulatory COPD patients with and without sleep disturbances; assessed using the Established Populations for Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly questionnaire; and stratified by Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease (GOLD) grades. Sleep disturbances overall were not correlated with cognitive functioning. A trend was revealed towards worse design copying in patients with sleep disturbances overall. GOLD I patients with difficulties falling asleep and nocturnal awakenings had worse copying ability compared to GOLD I patients without these sleep disturbances. Copying ability was worse for GOLD III than GOLD I, orientation was worse for GOLD II than GOLD I and language was worse for GOLD II and III than GOLD I. To conclude, sleep disturbances seem to be a weak correlate of cognitive functioning, and are not a marker of disease severity.