Comparison of Sleep Quality between Families of Dementia Patients and General Population in Community: Analysis with the Korea Community Health Survey

Abstract

This study aimed to examine the difference of sleep quality between family members of dementia patients and general population in community.Participants (n=215,676) aged 19 years and over in the 2018 Korea Community Health Survey were classified into three groups; family members living at home with a person with dementia (FHD; n=2,445), family members living separately from a person with dementia (FSD; n=9,132), and family members without a person with dementia in the family (FwoD; n=204,099). The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index greater than 6 points was regarded as poor sleep quality (PSQ). Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to explore the associations between living with dementia patients and PSQ.The prevalence of PSQ was 48.3% in FHD, 40.7% in FSD, and 38.8% in FwoD. After adjusting for potential confounders, compared to FwoD, the odds ratio for PSQ was 1.42 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.31-1.54) in FHD and 1.22 (95% CI, 1.17-1.27) in FSD. Additionally, almost all age- and sex-stratified family of dementia patients, except for the youngest (<40 years) men of FHD and the youngest (<40 years) men of FSD, had a higher risk for PSQ than FwoD.Both FHD and FSD have lower sleep quality than FwoD. Public psychological interventions and supports are needed to family members of dementia patients in the community.