The association of sleep duration and quality with depressive symptoms in older Chinese women.

Liang Ding,Haiyun Sang,Jiameng Ma,Qiang Gong,Luyao Zhang,Yongxiang Wang,Yufei Cui,Nayanatara Arun Kumar

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0262331

Liang Ding, Haiyun Sang + Show 6 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0262331

Copy DOI

Abstract

Poor sleep quality or short and long sleep duration are associated with many negative health outcomes, such as diabetes, hypertension, and fatigue, which may directly or indirectly correlate with poor mental health. Although, the association between sleep duration and quality, and depressive symptoms has been examined, the results of these studies were inconsistent and evidence specifically on older women is lacking. Therefore, we designed a cross-sectional study to evaluate the association between sleep duration and quality, and depressive symptoms in a relatively large sample of older Chinese women. The data were collected from 1,429 older women aged ≥60 years during bone-health examinations in Shanghai. Information on sleep duration and quality were assessed using a self-reported questionnaire. Depressive symptoms were assessed using the Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), and depressive symptoms were considered present for SDS scores ≥ 45. Logistic regression models were used to analyze the association between sleep and depressive symptoms. After adjusting for all potential confounding factors, a J-shaped association was found between sleep duration and depressive symptoms. When a sleep duration of 6–8 hours was set as a reference, the odds ratios and 95% confidential intervals of short and long sleep duration were 1.31 (0.99, 1.73) and 2.10 (1.40, 3.16), respectively. Moreover, sleep quality was inversely associated with the prevalence of depressive symptoms (p for trend = 0.040). When the SDS cut-off score defining depressive symptoms was changed to 40 and 50, these associations were somewhat weakened, but the trend did not change. This study replicated and extended prior research findings that sleep duration and quality may influence mental health in older women.

Highlights

Sleep plays an important role in maintaining the functions of the human body, such as the maintenance of consciousness, cognitive functions, maintenance of biological rhythms, repair and defense functions, and stress relief [1]
After excluding for participants who did not meet the criteria, a total of 1,429 participants were included in the final analysis
We investigated the association of sleep duration and quality with depressive symptoms among older Chinese women

Summary

Introduction

Sleep plays an important role in maintaining the functions of the human body, such as the maintenance of consciousness, cognitive functions, maintenance of biological rhythms, repair and defense functions, and stress relief [1]. Poor sleep quality is associated with poor health outcomes such as a higher prevalence of hypertension [2] and increased risk of mortality in older populations [3]. Many studies have shown a U-shaped association between sleep duration and health, with some asserting that a sleep duration of 7–8 hours is associated with lower rates of mortality [4] and diabetes [5]. Some have shown that the risks for stroke, asthma attacks, and cognitive impairment were lower in persons sleeping 6–8 hours at night [6–8]. Sleep durations of less than 6 hours were associated with an increased prevalence of hypertension [9]. Based on these previous findings, 6–8 hours of sleep could be considered beneficial to human health. Sleep conditions in older adults differ from those in the general population

Methods

Results

Conclusion