The Association Between Short Sleep Duration and Depressive Symptoms Among Elderly Farmers

Abstract

Objectives: This study was conducted to identify the association between short sleep duration and depressive symptoms among elderly farmers.Methods: This study analyzed the Safety for Agricultural Injuries of Farmers cohort data collected from September 2015 to June 2018. The data were based on an agricultural survey of the health and behaviors of adult farmers on Jeju Island in South Korea. Depressive symptoms were defined as a score of 8 or higher according to the short form of the geriatric depression scale. Short sleep duration was defined as less than 6 hours of average daily sleep duration.Results: The analysis included 507 participants, aged over 60 years. Of these, 87 (17.2%) demonstrated depressive symptoms. The prevalence of depressive symptoms differed significantly between farmers with <6 h (25.8%) and those with ≥6 h (13.5%) of sleep (<i>p</i>=0.001). Multivariable analyses confirmed that short sleep duration was significantly associated with depressive symptoms (odds ratio=1.876, 95% confidence interval=1.129–3.118).Conclusions: Our findings suggest that short sleep duration increases the risk of depressive symptoms among elderly farmers. Adequate daily sleep duration may prevent depressive symptoms in the population.