Sexual Difference in Effect of Long Sleep Duration on Incident Sarcopenia after Two Years in Community-Dwelling Older Adults

Abstract

Background: Sarcopenia, a progressive and generalized skeletal muscle disorder involving an accelerated loss of muscle mass and muscle function, is a common condition in older individuals. This study aimed to determine whether sleep latency and duration were independently associated with incident sarcopenia and to explore sex differences in these associations. Methods: This 2-year longitudinal analysis of cohort study data included community-dwelling participants of the 2016–2017 Korea Frailty and Aging Cohort Study aged 70–84 years at baseline survey who completed the 2-year follow-up survey. Logistic regression was used to calculate the odds ratios (ORs) for sarcopenia and sarcopenia components. Sarcopenia was defined using the 2019 Asian Working Group for Sarcopenia guidelines. Results: Among 1,353 non-sarcopenic participants in the baseline survey, 1,160 (85.8%) and 193 (14.2%) were classified as non-sarcopenic and sarcopenic, respectively, after 2 years. Long sleep duration (>8 hours per night) was associated with incident sarcopenia in male—OR=2.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.13–5.17) after adjusting for confounding factors. Long sleep duration was specifically associated with the development of low skeletal muscle mass and low muscle strength in male—adjusted OR=2.16 (95% CI, 1.02–4.61) and adjusted OR=2.70 (95% CI, 1.13–6.43), respectively. In female, compared to normal sleep duration, the adjusted ORs for long and short sleep duration for sarcopenia were 2.093 (95% CI, 0.753–5.812; p=0.157) and 0.852 (95% CI, 0.520–1.393; p=0.522), respectively, which were not significant.Conclusion: In male, long sleep duration was associated with incident sarcopenia, specifically the development of low muscle mass and low muscle strength, but not with low physical performance.

Sleeping more than 8 h: a silent factor contributing to decreased muscle mass in Chinese community-dwelling older adults

“…This suggested that habitual long sleep duration in older adults is detrimental to muscle mass loss. This result was consistent with other longitudinal studies [ 19 , 20 ].A longitudinal study [ 21 ] of Chinese older adults found that both longer and shorter sleep duration were associated with muscle loss. The difference was that the study was conducted with older adults in rural and suburban China, whereas our study focused on community-based older adults in a large city.…”

“…The results vary from study to study due to different hormone levels, sample sizes, and definitions of muscle mass in different genders [ 29 ].However, current research generally recognizes men as a risk factor for muscle mass loss [ 30 – 32 ].When considering sleep duration as a factor, a systematic review concluded that longer sleep duration is more likely to be associated with sarcopenia in older adults, especially women [ 33 ]. In contrast, another longitudinal study [ 20 ] showed that long sleep duration was associated with low muscle mass only in community-based male older adults. The reason for the inconsistency with previous findings may be that most of the participants in our study were women, and although the onset and rate of muscle mass loss in men is earlier than that in women, changes in hormone levels [ 5 , 34 ] due to menopause in women accelerate bone loss and muscle decay, and female older adults instead lose more muscle mass in later life [ 35 ].…”

“…Sleep is recognized as an important factor in maintaining muscle mass [16].Several cross-sectional studies [17,18] had demonstrated an association between too much or too little sleep and decreased muscle mass in older adults. The validity of research hypotheses requires evidence to further demonstrate causality, but there are fewer longitudinal studies [19][20][21]in this area. The results of related studies suggested that sleep duration affects muscle mass decline in older adults, and gender differences in the effect of sleep duration on muscle mass decline have not been consistent across these studies.…”

Longitudinal association of sleep duration with possible sarcopenia: evidence from CHARLS

“…Previous studies have reported gender differences in the relationship between sleep duration and the incidence of sarcopenia 11 15 48. In our study, we found a significant association between both shorter and longer sleep durations in men and an increased likelihood of possible sarcopenia; however, no such association was observed among women.…”

Association between sleep duration and serum neurofilament light chain levels among adults in the United States

“…Our effort in this study may further explain connection of extreme sleep duration and neurological dysfunction. Interestingly, our results showed that overlong sleep duration in male caused higher level sNfL than female might out of the poorer sleep in male [ 54 ]. Also, our data showed that people with normal BMI may get worsen neuro-stage, might traced back that obesity is chronical inflammatory state caused elevated sNfL level same as diabetes group [ 55 , 56 ].…”