Parker JL, Melaku YA, D'Rozario AL, Wittert GA, Martin SA, Catcheside PG, Lechat B, Teare AJ, Adams RJ, Appleton SL, Vakulin A. The association between obstructive sleep apnea and sleep spindles in middle-aged and older men: A community-based cohort study. Sleep. 2021 Nov 29:zsab282. doi: 10.1093/sleep/zsab282. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34850237.
Contact: Sarah Appleton

Sleep spindles are small bursts of brain activity in the sigma frequency range (11-16 Hz) mainly during stage 2 sleep and to a lesser degree during stage 3 sleep, also known as slow wave sleep. There is increasing evidence that they are involved in learning and memory processes.

This study in the MAILES longitudinal male cohort is one of the first population studies to report that there is an association between spindle abnormalities, and measures of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) including the number of obstructive breathing events, and blood oxygen levels.

However, further population studies are needed to determine if spindle metrics are related to functional and health-related outcomes and cognitive decline.