"Sleep disparity" in the population: poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and ethnicity.
BACKGROUND
Little is known about the social determinants of sleep attainment. This study examines the relationship of race/ethnicity, socio-economic status (SES) and other factors upon sleep quality.


METHODS
A cross-sectional survey of 9,714 randomly selected subjects was used to explore sleep quality obtained by self-report, in relation to socioeconomic factors including poverty, employment status, and education level. The primary outcome was poor sleep quality. Data were collected by the Philadelphia Health Management Corporation.


RESULTS
Significant differences were observed in the outcome for race/ethnicity (African-American and Latino versus White: unadjusted OR = 1.59, 95% CI 1.24-2.05 and OR = 1.65, 95% CI 1.37-1.98, respectively) and income (below poverty threshold, unadjusted OR = 2.84, 95%CI 2.41-3.35). In multivariable modeling, health indicators significantly influenced sleep quality most prominently in poor individuals. After adjusting for socioeconomic factors (education, employment) and health indicators, the association of income and poor sleep quality diminished, but still persisted in poor Whites while it was no longer significant in poor African-Americans (adjusted OR = 1.95, 95% CI 1.47-2.58 versus OR = 1.16, 95% CI 0.87-1.54, respectively). Post-college education (adjusted OR = 0.47, 95% CI 0.31-0.71) protected against poor sleep.


CONCLUSIONS
A "sleep disparity" exists in the study population: poor sleep quality is strongly associated with poverty and race. Factors such as employment, education and health status, amongst others, significantly mediated this effect only in poor subjects, suggesting a differential vulnerability to these factors in poor relative to non-poor individuals in the context of sleep quality. Consideration of this could help optimize targeted interventions in certain groups and subsequently reduce the adverse societal effects of poor sleep.
Patel
Nirav P
NP
Center for Sleep and Respiratory Neurobiology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
Grandner
Michael A
MA
Xie
Dawei
D
Branas
Charles C
CC
Gooneratne
Nalaka
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D044383:Black People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004522:Educational Status; D004651:Employment; D005260:Female; D054624:Health Status Disparities; D006630:Hispanic or Latino / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010414:Pennsylvania; D011203:Poverty; D012892:Sleep Deprivation / Q000208:ethnology*; D044465:White People / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D055815:Young Adult; D001741:Black or African American