Abstract

INTRODUCTIONSleep disturbances are known to impact patients with Alzheimer's disease (AD), with one estimate indicating that up to 65% of those diagnosed with AD meet the criteria for a major sleep disorder.1,2 While most sleep disorders are addressed symptomatically, more recent studies are addressing biological links by which sleep disturbances directly impact AD pathophysiology, especially levels of brain amyloid beta (Aβ) and tau.3–7 A number of small studies using laboratory polysomnography (PSG) testing in AD have reported reduced slow‐wave sleep (SWS) and rapid eye movement (REM) sleep,8 both of which are potential sleep therapeutic targets. As the gold standard, PSG affords the highest quality sleep staging information, but with the major drawbacks of high cost, limited availability, and the requirement to spend a night in a clinic bed, with inherent risks to persons with dementia who do not respond well to a change in environment. Simplified, home electroencephalogram (EEG) would address these limitations, and vastly expand access to sleep staging, while recognizing potential limitations to the quality of data acquisition as well as analysis. While several studies have explored one‐ to two‐channel sleep‐EEG in older individuals,7,9,10 to our knowledge no study to date has used such a setup in