{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,26]],"date-time":"2026-06-26T10:42:19Z","timestamp":1782470539443,"version":"3.54.5"},"reference-count":19,"publisher":"Georg Thieme Verlag KG","issue":"01","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1769299200000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":24,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"Universidad Esp\u00edritu Santo, Ecuador"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Arq Neuropsiquiatr"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2026,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:title>Abstract<\/jats:title>\n                  <jats:p>Studies on the association between pineal gland calcification (PGC) and non-breathing sleep-related symptoms are inconclusive.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>The present study aims to evaluate this association in middle-aged and older adults living in rural villages located in coastal Ecuador.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Community-dwellers aged \u2265 40 years enrolled in the Three Villages Study cohort were interviewed with the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) to assess sleep quality and received head computed tomography for automated measurement of PGC volumes. Generalized linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the association between PGC volumes (exposure) and the PSQI score and sleep quality (as separate dependent variables), after adjusting for age and sex.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>The study included 1,009 participants (mean age: 56.5\u2009\u00b1\u200912.6 years; 57% women). The mean volume of PGC was 51\u2009\u00b1\u200953.5 \u00b5L. The mean score of the PSQI was 5.3\u2009\u00b1\u20092.8 points, with 399 (40%) participants having poor sleep quality. Locally-Weighted Scatterplot Smoothing showed a linear relationship between continuous PGC volumes and PSQI scores. An unadjusted generalized linear regression model showed a significant association between PGC volumes stratified in tertiles and the continuous PSQI score. However, this association lost statistical significance after adjustment for age and sex. The association between tertiles of PGC and poor sleep quality was non-significant in both unadjusted and multivariate logistic regression models.<\/jats:p>\n                  <jats:p>Study results did not find an association between increased PGC and sleep quality after adjusting for demographics, suggesting that PGC may not necessarily indicate pineal dysfunction but could reflect adaptive physiological mechanisms.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1055\/s-0045-1814399","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]],"date-time":"2026-01-25T23:30:22Z","timestamp":1769383822000},"page":"001-005","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":2,"title":["Automated measurement of pineal gland calcification volumes and sleep quality in adults living in costal Ecuador"],"prefix":"10.1055","volume":"84","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-1917-8805","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Oscar H.","family":"Del Brutto","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad Esp\u00edritu Santo, Escuela de Medicina, Samborond\u00f3n, Ecuador."},{"name":"Universidad Esp\u00edritu Santo, Centro de Investigaciones, Samborond\u00f3n, Ecuador."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-1701-560X","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Robertino M.","family":"Mera","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Freenome, Inc., Biostatistics\/Epidemiology, South San Francisco CA, United States."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0009-0004-1696-5189","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Emilio E.","family":"Arias","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad Esp\u00edritu Santo, Centro de Investigaciones, Samborond\u00f3n, Ecuador."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8257-7572","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Denisse A.","family":"Rumbea","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Universidad Esp\u00edritu Santo, Centro de Investigaciones, Samborond\u00f3n, Ecuador."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8704-5169","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Vishal","family":"Patel","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Department of Radiology, Jacksonville FL, United States."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-0423-1354","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Pablo R.","family":"Castillo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Mayo Clinic College of Medicine, Sleep Disorders Center, Jacksonville FL, United States."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"194","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,25]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"171","DOI":"10.1016\/B978-0-12-416021-7.00005-5","article-title":"The pineal gland from development to function","volume":"106","author":"D Sap\u00e8de","year":"2013","journal-title":"Curr Top Dev Biol"},{"issue":"01","key":"ref2","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"32","DOI":"10.1186\/s13643-023-02205-5","article-title":"Prevalence of pineal gland calcification: systematic review and meta-analysis","volume":"12","author":"D G Belay","year":"2023","journal-title":"Syst Rev"},{"issue":"03","key":"ref3","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"145","DOI":"10.1111\/j.1600-079X.2004.00196.x","article-title":"The human pineal gland and melatonin in aging and Alzheimer's disease","volume":"38","author":"Y H Wu","year":"2005","journal-title":"J Pineal Res"},{"issue":"01","key":"ref4","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"28","DOI":"10.1186\/s13024-019-0330-8","article-title":"Pineal gland dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease: relationship with the immune-pineal axis, sleep disturbance, and neurogenesis","volume":"14","author":"J Song","year":"2019","journal-title":"Mol Neurodegener"},{"issue":"03","key":"ref5","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"187","DOI":"10.1016\/s0925-4927(98)00013-4","article-title":"On pineal calcification and its relation to subjective sleep perception: a hypothesis-driven pilot study","volume":"82","author":"D Kunz","year":"1998","journal-title":"Psychiatry Res"},{"issue":"04","key":"ref6","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"439","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleep.2008.05.003","article-title":"Degree of pineal calcification (DOC) is associated with polysomnographic sleep measures in primary insomnia patients","volume":"10","author":"R Mahlberg","year":"2009","journal-title":"Sleep Med"},{"issue":"11","key":"ref7","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"1426","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleep.2014.07.008","article-title":"Pineal gland calcification is not associated with sleep-related symptoms. A population-based study in community-dwelling elders living in Atahualpa (rural coastal Ecuador)","volume":"15","author":"O H Del Brutto","year":"2014","journal-title":"Sleep Med"},{"key":"ref8","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"2","DOI":"10.1016\/j.sleep.2020.01.029","article-title":"The association between physical activity and sleep quality in stroke-free adults living in rural settings. 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