Sleep Disturbances and Dementia Risk in Older Adults
Author Information
Author(s): Wong Roger, Grullon Jason Rafael
Primary Institution: Norton College of Medicine, SUNY Upstate Medical University, New York, USA
Hypothesis
Does race/ethnicity moderate the relationship between sleep disturbances and dementia risk among older adults?
Conclusion
Sleep disturbances are more frequent among older Black, Hispanic, and Asian adults, and should be considered when addressing dementia disparities.
Supporting Evidence
- Black, Hispanic, and Asian respondents exhibited higher frequencies of sleep-initiation and sleep-maintenance difficulties.
- Hispanic respondents with sleep-initiation difficulty had a decreased dementia risk.
- Asian respondents using sleep medications had a significantly higher dementia risk.
Takeaway
Older people from different races have trouble sleeping, which can affect their chances of getting dementia. It's important to look at how sleep problems differ among these groups.
Methodology
The study analyzed ten years of data from the National Health and Aging Trends Study using Cox proportional hazards models to assess dementia risk.
Potential Biases
Potential bias from self-reported data and missing data imputation.
Limitations
The study lacks psychometric testing for sleep measures and may have residual confounding from unmeasured variables.
Participant Demographics
Participants included 6284 community-dwelling older adults, with 69.9% White, 20.9% Black, 5.4% Hispanic, 1.7% Asian, and 2.1% other races.
Statistical Information
P-Value
0.01
Confidence Interval
95% CI 0.15–0.76
Statistical Significance
p<0.05
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
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