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Self-reported insomnia symptom, sleep duration and the risk of recurrent falls among older men and women

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Key Summary Points

AbstractSection Aim

To examine the risk of recurrent falls among older adults with insomnia symptoms and abnormal sleep duration.

AbstractSection Findings

The risk of falls was significantly higher among older women who reported insomnia symptoms along with short sleep duration.

AbstractSection Message

Insomnia symptoms along with a measure of sleep duration may be a more accurate indicator of risk for falls among older women than insomnia symptoms or sleep duration alone.

Abstract

Background/objectives

Previous studies have reported conflicting results on the association between sleep disturbance and recurrent falls. The objective of the current study was to examine the risk of recurrent falls among community-dwelling older adults who reported one or more insomnia symptoms along with normal, short and long sleep durations in comparison with those who reported no insomnia symptom and normal sleep duration.

Design

Secondary data analysis of a prospective cohort study.

Setting

Community.

Participants

2198 community-dwelling older adults who participated in the National Health and Aging Trends Study at round 3 and round 4 follow-up visits.

Measurements

Data on self-reported sleep characteristics, demographic characteristics, health and memory status, and depression symptom collected at round 3 and round 4 follow-up visits, and corresponding data on falls that was collected at round 4 and round 5 follow-up visits.

Results

Risk of recurrent falls significantly increased among women who reported insomnia symptom with short sleep duration. No significant association was observed among men.

Conclusion

One or more insomnia symptoms with a measure of sleep duration may be a more accurate indicator of adverse outcomes associated with sleep disturbance than either insomnia symptom or sleep duration alone. The mechanism underlying gender-specific association reported in the current study merits further investigation.

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Acknowledgements

The author gratefully acknowledges the support provided by the Department of Medicine at Morehouse School of Medicine. The National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS) is sponsored by the National Institute of Aging (Grant NIA U01AG032947) through a cooperative agreement with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geriatric Section, Department of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, 720 Westview Drive, SW, Atlanta, GA, 30310-1495, USA

    Yohannes Endeshaw

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  1. Yohannes Endeshaw
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Correspondence to Yohannes Endeshaw.

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Conflict of interest

No conflicts of interest declared by the author.

Ethical approval

This is a secondary data analysis of de-identified data and the study was approved by Institutional Review Board of Morehouse School of Medicine.

Informed consent

This is a secondary data analysis of de-identified data and no contact was made with the study participants.

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Endeshaw, Y. Self-reported insomnia symptom, sleep duration and the risk of recurrent falls among older men and women. Eur Geriatr Med 10, 303–312 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-018-00158-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41999-018-00158-w

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