"Cognitive Fatigability: Mechanisms and Consequences of Sleep Health and Cognitive Reserve in Older Adults"
Date: Monday June 21st, 2021
Time: 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Register in advance for this meeting
Integrating Special Populations: Seminar Series
2019 ISP Pilot Award Presentations
Nancy Kerner, MD
Assistant Professor of Psychiatry
Chronic fatigue with cognitive and daily functioning decline is a major public health issue in older adults. It is greater than what would be expected from disability and aging in many neurological and neurodegenerative diseases. According to the CDC, dementia is a general term for declining cognitive abilities of remembering, thinking, or making decisions that interfere with doing everyday activities. In 2021, 16 million Americans provide unpaid care for people with dementia, an estimated care valued at $244 billion (Alzheimer’s Association). Nonetheless, no curative measure occurs. Not until recently, we began to recognize a plausible mechanism that Alzheimer’s pathology activates innate immunity and inflammatory responses. Thus, it raises the question of whether persistent fatigue has a role in cognitive and daily functioning decline within the context of carrying out everyday activities in the face of accumulating Alzheimer’s pathology.
Fatigue is an overwhelming feeling of tiredness and exhaustion, while perceived fatigability is susceptibility to fatigue, including physical, functional, psychological, and social domains. In this seminar, we will present:
- A novel theoretical concept: “Dementia-related Fatigue” within the context of carrying out everyday activities.
- Our pilot study results: the role of perceived fatigability in the interplay between cognition function and cognitive abilities within the context of managing day-to-day activities and the impact of sleep health on this association.
- Our exploratory finding: the influence of cognitive reserve on the link between perceived fatigability and sleep health.