Subjective and objective sleep quality and aging in the sleep heart health study.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the extent to which subjective and objective sleep quality are related to age independent of chronic health conditions.


METHODS
Cross-sectional study.


METHODS
The Sleep Heart Health Study (SHHS) is a multicenter study designed to determine the cardiovascular consequences and the natural history of sleep disordered breathing.


METHODS
Five thousand four hundred seven community-dwelling adults who participated in the SHHS (mean age 63, range 45-99; 52% women).


METHODS
Unattended home polysomnography (PSG) and sleep questionnaires.


RESULTS
Older age was associated with shorter sleep time, diminished sleep efficiency, and more arousals in men and women. In men, age was independently associated with more Stage 1 and Stage 2 sleep and less slow-wave (Stage 3 to 4) and rapid eye movement sleep. In women, older age was less strongly associated according to linear trend with sleep stage. Conversely, poor subjective sleep quality was not associated with older age in men, but older women had more trouble falling asleep, and there was a trend toward older women having more problems with waking up during the night and waking up too early. Associations between self-report and directly measured sleep time and sleep latency were low to moderate across age groups (correlation coefficient=0.06-0.32).


CONCLUSIONS
Older age was more strongly associated with poorer sleep according to PSG in men than women, yet the subjective report of poor sleep with older age was stronger in women. The higher prevalence of chronic health conditions, including sleep apnea, in older adults did not explain changes of sleep parameters with aging and age-sex differences in these relationships.
Unruh
Mark L
ML
Renal-Electrolyte Division, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261, USA. unruh@pitt.edu
Redline
Susan
S
An
Ming-Wen
MW
Buysse
Daniel J
DJ
Nieto
F Javier
FJ
Yeh
Jeun-Liang
JL
Newman
Anne B
AB
D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000375:Aging / Q000502:physiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D005853:Geriatrics; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017286:Polysomnography; D012737:Sex Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology*; D012894:Sleep Stages / Q000502:physiology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors