Racial/Ethnic Differences in Sleep Disorders and Reporting of Trouble Sleeping Among Women of Childbearing Age in the United States

Abstract

Objectives Whether racial/ethnic differences in prevalence/reporting of sleep disorders exist in pregnant women/women of child-bearing age is unknown. Study objectives were to estimate prevalence of sleep disorders and to examine racial/ethnic differences in sleep disorders, reporting of sleep issues, and amount of sleep among women of child-bearing age (15–44 years) in the US. Methods Through a secondary analysis of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey 2005–2010 (3175 non-pregnant, 432 pregnant women in main analysis), prevalence of sleep disorders, reporting of sleep disorders to a physician/health professional, and amount of sleep were estimated overall, by pregnancy status, and by race/ethnicity stratified by pregnancy status. Racial/ethnic differences in reporting of trouble sleeping by pregnancy status were examined using univariate and multivariate logistic regression. Results Prevalence of diagnosed sleep disorders among women of childbearing age was 4.9% (3.9% pregnant; 5.1% non-pregnant [p<0.01]). Significantly fewer pregnant and non-pregnant minority women reported adequate sleep (7–8 hours) than non-Hispanic white (white) women (p<0.05). Among non-pregnant women, odds of report of trouble sleeping were significantly higher for white compared to black (aOR 0.47 [95% CI 0.36, 0.61]) or Mexican-American women (aOR 0.29 [95% CI 0.21, 0.41]); non-pregnant minority women were also significantly less likely to report trouble sleeping than white women when controlling for amount of sleep. Among pregnant women, these same trends were found. Discussion Compared to white women, minority women, despite reporting less adequate sleep, are less likely to report trouble sleeping, providing evidence of an important health disparity.

Racial/ethnic disparities in sleep duration and sleep disturbances among pregnant and non‐pregnant women in the United States

“…A prior study has informed the complex relationship between pregnancy, sleep and race/ethnicity in the USA by characterizing sleep duration among both pregnant and non‐pregnant women (Amyx et al, ). The authors documented disparities in the prevalence of sleep disorders by race/ethnicity among pregnant women, but not among non‐pregnant women.…”

Exploring the Role of Negative Cognitions in the Relationship Between Ethnicity, Sleep, and Pain in Women With Temporomandibular Joint Disorder

“…We believe that despite this limitation, these findings provide important information on the unique contribution of different aspects of pain related cognitions and have important clinical implications. It is possible that the self-report measures for insomnia and sleep-related cognitions used in this study did not capture the full magnitude or subtle differences of the manifestation of insomnia in AA, possibly since AA tend to under report trouble sleeping despite having shorter sleep durations 3 . This might have contributed to insomnia not emerging as a mediator of the relationship between ethnicity and clinical pain in our analyses.…”

“…Longitudinal data provide evidence for a strong relationship between sleep and pain in TMJD, indicating that insomnia symptom severity predicts subsequent pain a month later 46 and decreased sleep quality predicts TMJD onset 48, 49, 53 . Ethnic differences in sleep have also been documented in the insomnia literature; AA report poorer sleep quality, longer sleep onset latency and shorter sleep duration compared to Caucasians 15, 30, 61 yet paradoxically, AA women tend to report less trouble sleeping 3 . These disparities in sleep may in part account for the ethnic differences found in pain.…”

Individual Correlates of Sleep Among Childbearing Age Women in Canada

“…Women were more at risk for short and poor sleep quality (Mehta, Shafi, & Bhat, 2015;Nugent & Black, 2016), since their sleep can be influenced by menstrual cycle, pregnancy and menopause (Mehta et al, 2015). According to data from the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, women of childbearing age (WOCBA) from 15 to 44 years of age reported poor sleep quality more frequently compared to pregnant women of the same age range (Amyx, Xiong, Xie, & Buekens, 2017). Thus, studies investigating the correlates of sleep should be separated by sex and focus on WOCBA who may be at particular risk for short/poor sleep.…”