# The impact of early Tau pathology on cognitive progression and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease

> **NIH NIH R01** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $392,910

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
Sleep disruption and related daytime dysfunction are common in people with Parkinson’s disease (PD),
affecting up to 80% of patients. Despite this known prevalence of sleep-wake disturbance, it is not well
understood how dysfunctional sleep-wake rhythms may contribute to cognitive and neuropsychiatric symptoms
in PD Dementia (PDD) and the closely related Dementia with Lewy Bodies (DLB). Many of the brain regions
involved in regulating daily patterns of sleep-wake behavior are also the earliest to be affected by Lewy Body
(LB) pathology, as well as by co-occurring Alzheimer’s disease (AD) pathology, in PD and DLB patients. This
Administrative Supplement requests supplemental funding in order to investigate associations between
disrupted patterns of sleep-wake behavior, AD co-pathology, and cognitive and neuropsychiatric progression in
the context of Lewy body diseases. We will apply novel analysis techniques, such as functional principle
component analysis, to newly acquired continuous 24-hour high-resolution actigraphy data to assess patterns
of sleep-wake behavior in PD and DLB patients. Uniquely leveraging PET and CSF biomarkers of concomitant
tau co-pathology from the parent grant, we will quantify patterns of sleep-wake behavior in patient with pure LB
and mixed LB/AD pathologies. The Aims of this study are: (1) to determine associations of disrupted patterns
of sleep-wake behavior with cognitive performance and with neuropsychiatric disturbances in PD and DLB.,
and (2) to relate sleep-wake behavior phenotypes to biomarkers of tau co-pathology (PET and CSF) in PD and
DLB.
The proposed studies are highly responsive to NOT-NS-21-040 “Administrative Supplements for Collaborative
Activities to Promote Sleep/Circadian Research in ADRD” and its stated goal “to facilitate collaborative
research to better understand the bi-directional relationship between chronic sleep disturbances/circadian
disruption and AD/ADRD pathogenesis”. This supplement also represents a new collaborative effort between
sleep researchers (Dr. Jamie Zeitzer) and PD/AD researchers from the parent grant (Drs. Poston and
Andreasson), and a provides a unique opportunity to examine the role of sleep-wake rhythms in the
progression of cognitive impairment and dementia related to pure LB and to mixed LB/AD pathology in patients
with PD and DLB.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10401958
- **Project number:** 3R01NS115114-03S1
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** Katrin I. Andreasson
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $392,910
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2019-09-20 → 2024-08-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10401958

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10401958, The impact of early Tau pathology on cognitive progression and neuropsychiatric symptoms in Parkinson's disease (3R01NS115114-03S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-22 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10401958. Licensed CC0.

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