Interactions between sleep normative data and sociocultural characteristics in the elderly.
OBJECTIVE
To present sleep patterns in elderly individuals and factors associated with short sleep and long daytime and nighttime sleep.


METHODS
A total of 8091 subjects aged between 55 and 101 years representative of the noninstitutionalized general population of seven European countries (France, Finland, Italy, Germany, Portugal, Spain, and UK) were interviewed by telephone about their sleep habits and sleep disorders.


RESULTS
The average sleep duration was 6 h and 57 min. Sleep duration was longer in men than in women. Five percent of the sample slept 5 h or less and 5% slept 9 h or more per night. Factors associated with short sleep (lower fifth percentile) were age, living in UK, no physical exercise, drinking six cups of coffee or more per day, taking a medication for sleep, difficulty initiating sleep, disrupted sleep, early morning awakening, and presence of an anxiety disorder. Factors associated with long sleep (> or =95th percentile) were age, living in France, Portugal, or Spain, being underweight, no physical exercise, disrupted sleep, taking a medication for sleep, and presence of an anxiety disorder. Long daytime sleep (54 min or more) were age, being a man, being overweight or obese, physical disease, being dissatisfied with one's social life, smoking, drinking alcohol, and having a major depressive disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
Sleep patterns considerably varied among the countries in the elderly population. Extreme values of sleep duration (short and long sleep) were associated with several sleep and mental health problems.
Ohayon
Maurice M
MM
Stanford Sleep Epidemiology Research Center, Stanford University School of Medicine, 3430 West Bayshore Road, Suite 102, Stanford, Palo Alto, CA 94303, USA. mohayon@stanford.edu
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000523:psychology*; D000428:Alcohol Drinking; D001835:Body Weight; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D003466:Cultural Characteristics; D005060:Europe; D015444:Exercise; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012890:Sleep; D012893:Sleep Wake Disorders / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012907:Smoking; D012924:Social Conditions