Poor sleep quality and alcohol use problems among elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about sleep quality and alcohol use problems in the elderly minority population. This study aimed to identify a one-month prevalence of poor sleep quality and alcohol use problems among elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women and to examine the association between them.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey with stratified random sampling was conducted in eight aboriginal communities in Taiwan. The 1261 elderly aboriginal women (response rate 84%) completed all assessments. Sleep was assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), while the CAGE questionnaire was used to evaluate alcohol use problems.


RESULTS
Of the study participants, 20.54% and 25.59% had poor sleep quality and alcohol use problems, respectively. Controlling for confounding factors, alcohol use problems were a risk factor for poor sleep quality (AOR = 1.44, p = 0.0433). Alcohol use problems were associated with three components of PSQI: sleep disturbances, subjective sleep quality, and daytime dysfunction.


CONCLUSIONS
The elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women with problematic alcohol drinking experienced poorer sleep quality. Development of a program to reduce alcohol use problems might improve sleep quality among elderly Taiwanese aboriginal women.
Chueh
Ke-Hsin
KH
Department of Nursing, Yuanpei University, Hsinchu, and School of Nursing, Kaohsiung Medical University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
Yang
Mei-Sang
MS
Chen
Cheng-Sheng
CS
Chiou
Shyam-Min
SM