Sleep Health in U.S. Hispanic Population

Abstract

The importance of sleep on health has only been recently recognized, and the general public and the medical community are not yet fully knowledgeable about this issue. The great majority of sleep research has been performed in whites of European descent and to a lesser extent in African Americans, making generalization of the findings to other ethnic and racial groups difficult. Very little sleep research has been done in U.S. Hispanics. However, based on the available literature and the high prevalence of risk factors in Hispanics, such as obesity, diabetes, living in the inner city, and use of alcohol, the prevalence of such important sleep disorders such as obstructive sleep apnea and sleep habits such as poor sleep hygiene are suspected to be high. There is also some evidence that acculturation to the U.S. life style may lead to worse sleep habits in Hispanics, including fewer hours of sleep. Two current large NIH sponsored studies of sleep in U.S. Hispanics promise to significantly add to the literature on various sleep disorders such as sleep disordered breathing, insomnia, restless legs syndrome, periodic limb movement disorder, and sleep habits such as short sleep duration and sleep hygiene.

Sleep Duration and Obesity of Young Mexican-heritage Children in Rural California

“…These findings contribute to the growing body of literature demonstrating a negative association between sleep duration and BMI among children [33][34][35][36][37][38]. While underlying physiological mechanisms are not well understood, clinical evidence suggests hormonal and neural regulation may be altered from inadequate sleep [4,39,40].…”

“…While the influence of acculturation on metabolic health in Latino communities is not new, our findings suggest that sleep patterns of children in more acculturated households may exacerbate health risks. This adds to a limited body of evidence that acculturation to the U.S. lifestyle leads to worse sleep habits in Hispanics [37].…”

“…Also, television viewing has been shown to interfere with sleep; children who sleep more during the night are less likely to watch TV before bed compared to those who read before bed [38]. Further, children with televisions in their bedroom or who watch TV before bed are more likely to have a later bedtime [6,37]. Other research has also identified a positive association between obesity and having varied sleep patterns between weekend and weekday [22,38].…”

Spanish Translation and Cross-Language Validation of a Sleep Habits Questionnaire for Use in Clinical and Research Settings

“…A majority of these rates are consistent with population studies undertaken in the United States, including the rates for insomnia symptoms, weekday short sleep duration, and, in particular, the high rates for snoring among the Hispanics in this study with Hispanics in other studies. 4,5,8,16,24,25 Age, education, and acculturation category were not significantly associated with any of the sleep categories. Future studies will need to determine if these and other socioeconomic status variables, including naturalization or U.S.-born status, 50 may play roles in the type and severity of sleep disorder category among Mexican American Hispanics.…”

“…The questionnaire includes "Sleep Symptoms" containing 2 somnolence statements, "Feel excessively (overly) sleepy during the day," and "Feel unrested during the day, no matter how many hours of sleep you had," as well as "Not getting enough sleep," the insomnia statements, "Trouble falling asleep," "Wake up during the night and have difficulty resuming sleep," and "Wake up too early in the morning and be unable to resume sleep," and "Bad dreams or nightmares," rated Recent reviews reported the need for studies of sleep among Hispanics. 24,25 This research need is time-critical because Hispanic Americans (e.g., Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican) are the second largest and fastest growing minority group and currently constitute 15% of the population; Mexican Americans represent the largest subgroup, comprising 66.7% of the Hispanic American population. 26 Many factors combine to make sleep disorders research a high priority among Hispanics in the United States.…”