We are looking for people with Down syndrome, aged between 25-50 years old, to take part in a research study that will help us to understand more about sleep and the brain.
This study is also open to siblings or non-siblings of people with Down syndrome, who don’t have a sleep condition, to form a comparison group.
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) develops in many people with Down syndrome as they get older. The third copy of chromosome 21 in Down syndrome contains several genes thought to accelerate AD development. Once symptoms appear in people who have Down syndrome, dementia progresses similarly to AD disease processes in the general population.
In recent years, evidence has begun to emerge for sleep as a modifiable risk factor for the development of AD. Indeed, poor sleep in earlier life has been shown to increase risk for dementia by 30%. However, processes by which poor sleep quality may contribute to dementia risk remain largely unknown. The aim of this research is to help us understand why and how sleep might affect the brain and memory as people with Down syndrome get older. In turn, this will help better treatments to be developed in the future that help to prevent or delay the onset of dementia and memory problems.
Find out more
- Invitation to take part
- Participant information sheet – easy read
- Participant information sheet – control group
To get involved
If you are interested in taking part in this study, please email Dr Brown (details below)
About the researcher – Dr Stephanie Brown (Sb2403@medschl.cam.ac.uk)
I have a Ph.D. in Psychiatry from the University of Edinburgh and currently am a Senior Research Associate at the University of Cambridge. I have been researching the brain using MRI scanning for 10 years.