Biomedical subjects

J A Stack

Publications and source records attributed to J A Stack.

23 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

PubMed1987

The superior sleep of healthy elderly nuns.

The nocturnal sleep structure of ten healthy elderly nuns was compared to that of ten healthy age-matched female controls. The nuns fell asleep more quickly and had less early morning awakening, as well as greater REM sleep time. These differences may reflect the more highly entrained life style of the nuns, including modest habitual sleep restriction (and thus accumulated sleep debt) of about one hour each night. The current findings, reviewed in relation to the sleep and aging literature, tend to support the concept that some of the effects of aging on sleep can be offset by attention to good "sleep hygiene," including careful entrainment of sleep schedule and modest habitual sleep restriction. However, age-related decrements in slow-wave sleep and sleep maintenance were not significantly better in the nuns.

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PubMed1986

Sleep deprivation in healthy elderly men and women: effects on mood and on sleep during recovery.

Elderly women had better recovery sleep than elderly men following 36-h sleep deprivation, as evidenced by higher sleep maintenance/efficiency and more slow wave sleep (particularly in the amount of stage 4 sleep). During recovery sleep, both groups showed REM latency reduction (two men and three women had seven sleep-onset REM periods out of a total of 40 recovery nights), decrease in percentage of early REM sleep and increase in whole-night REM sleep time. Total Mood Disturbance scores on the Profile of Mood States increased in both men and women following sleep deprivation (reflecting a decrease in vigor and increase in fatigue and tension). While the increase tended to be greater in women, in both groups self-ratings of mood returned to baseline after 1 night of recovery sleep. These observations underscore the importance of gender in determining late-life sleep structure and suggest that the ability of older women to achieve slow wave sleep and to have long uninterrupted sleep in greater than that of men.

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PubMed1986

Two-year follow-up of elderly patients with mixed depression and dementia. Clinical and electroencephalographic sleep findings.

In a two-year follow-up of 16 patients with mixed symptoms of depression and dementia, eight showed clinical improvement and eight showed deterioration. Improvement at two-year follow-up was associated with several baseline measures: a Folstein Mini-Mental State score of 21 or greater, a Hamilton Depression score of 21 or greater, and a sleep efficiency of less than 75%. These findings suggest that in the elderly with mixed symptoms of depression and dementia, a more favorable outcome is associated with initially greater depressive symptomatology, higher cognitive function, and moderate sleep continuity disturbance ("early morning awakening").

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PubMed1986

Sleep-disordered breathing in normal and pathologic aging.

In a study of sleep-disordered breathing among 139 elderly individuals, sleep apnea (defined as 5 or more apneas per hour) occurred in 34 (41.7%) Alzheimer's subjects compared with 56 (5.4%) healthy controls, 35 (11.4%) depressive subjects, and 24 (16.7%) patients with mixed symptoms of both cognitive impairment and depression (p less than .001). Alzheimer's patients had a significantly higher proportion of NREM-related than REM-related apnea. Moreover, a significant (p less than .01) positive correlation between the apnea index and severity of dementia, as measured by the Blessed Dementia Rating Scale, was found in apnea-positive Alzheimer's patients, as well as in the entire sample of Alzheimer's patients (p less than .05). No such correlation was found in the mixed-symptoms group. Possible clinical and neuropathologic implications are discussed.

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PubMedDate not supplied

Longitudinal analysis of nortriptyline side effects in elderly depressed patients.

Forty-five depressed elderly patients were closely monitored in a research setting during treatment with nortriptyline and interpersonal psychotherapy for 7 consecutive months of acute and continuation treatment. Overall, nortriptyline was efficacious and well tolerated in this group. The frequency of somatic complaints measured by the Rating Scale for Side Effects declined by 50% during the acute phase of treatment, suggesting that many somatic complaints that may be attributed to side effects of nortriptyline are actually somatic symptoms of depression. The authors discuss the implications of these findings and offer practical advice for the treating clinician.

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