0343 Does Insomnia Symptom Severity Vary By Race/ethnicity?

Abstract

While there is epidemiologic evidence that racial/ethnic minorities report shorter sleep duration and poorer sleep quality than whites, few studies have assessed sleep continuity (SC), variable by variable (e.g., SL, NWAK, WASO, EMA, & TST). The present analysis assesses in a quantitative way whether insomnia symptom severity varies by race/ethnicity. An archival analysis was conducted on an existing database of 4,206 individuals who completed a screening survey on-line at www.sleeplessinphilly.com. Variables collected included estimates for: sleep latency (SL), number of awakenings (NWAK), wake after sleep onset (WASO), early morning awakenings (EMA) and total sleep time (TST). The sample for the present analysis was comprised of 2,049 whites (63.4%), 1,007 blacks (31.2%), and 175 Hispanics (5.4%). The overall mean age was 39.0±14.7, 60.4% of the sample was female, and the average BMI was 28.0±7.1. For all SC variables, blacks significantly differed from whites: SL (49.2±38.3 vs. 42.8±30.5; p<.001); NWAK (2.64±1.7 vs. 2.50±1.6; p<.001); WASO (47.3±43.4 vs. 29.9±30.5; p<.000); EMA (63.4±41.8 vs. 57.2±33.0; p<.000); Hispanics did not significantly differ from whites with respect to the above measures. For self-reported TST, blacks and Hispanics significantly differed from whites (316.4±85.1; 356.2±73.7; 365.8±80.6, respectively; p<0.000). Our results suggest that blacks exhibit marginally worse sleep continuity (statistically significant owing to the large sample sizes) and shorter TSTs. Analysis is ongoing to evaluate Time in Bed [TIB], calculated TST, SE%, sleep period, sleep schedule differences, and percentage of group with Insufficient Sleep Disorder by race, in matched samples. SUPPORT:R01AG041783;K24AG055602;R01AT003332;K23HL125939