Sleep quality features and their association with mood symptoms and cognitive factors in a non‐clinical sample of older Brazilian adults

Abstract

Aim: There is strong interest in sleep disorders in the elderly, but there are gaps in identifying how multiple factors affect sleep quality in this population. We aimed to assess sleep quality and its relationship to mood, general cognition, and sociodemographic factors in a sample of cognitively active older adults. Methods: We assessed 105 non-clinical older adults (mean age AE SD: 69.64 AE 0.66 years) based on a sociodemographic profile questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Separate analyses were conducted, controlled by sleep quality and daytime sleepiness, to understand how variables were associated. Results: About 46.7% of individuals had significantly poor sleep quality. Univariate analysis showed that non-workers had a lower risk of impaired sleep quality (prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.67; P = 0.044). However, there was an increased risk of poor sleep quality in those experiencing depressive symptoms (PR = 1.78; P < 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (PR = 1.98; P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, the language component of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (PR = 0.80; P = 0.011) was associated with a lower risk of poor sleep quality, and anxiety symptoms (PR = 1.99; P < 0.001) remained significantly associated with a higher risk of poor sleep quality. No significant difference was observed in variables related to daytime sleepiness. Conclusion: We found that overall quality of sleep potentially relates to mood, cognition, and sociodemographic factors. Further studies using multifactorial approaches to sleep investigation are required.

Do older people with poor sleep quality have worse cardiac autonomic control?

“…Nonetheless, the results in this study must be carefully analyzed because its limitations prevent extrapolating its findings to other older people groups. The limitations identified in the present research include the sample size and characteristics, memory bias (as the instrument that assessed sleep quality was based on self-reported questions), ( 23 ) and factors such as stress, mood, fatigue, and level of physical activity (which may influence the HRV but were not assessed in this study). ( 28 )…”

“…( 7 , 22 ) The results of this study are similar to those observed in other pieces of research. In the study by da Silva et al ., ( 23 ) which also used the PSQI to assess sleep quality in older people, approximately 46.7% of them had poor sleep quality. In a multicentric study with older people, 68.5% of the subjects had a sleep disorder.…”

The effect of incontinence on sleep quality in the elderly

“…I-QOL was developed by Wagner et al in 1996 to determine the quality of life of patients with urinary incontinence. 24 The scale was revised by Patrick et al in 1999, and the number of items was reduced to 22 by removing six items by evaluating psychometric measurements during the creation of European versions. 25 In the study of Patrick et al, the Cronbach's alpha coefficient of I-QOL was found to be 0.95.…”

Gender-specific link between sleep quality and body composition components: a cross-sectional study on the elderly

“…Previous studies on the Iranian elderly have similarly reported a high rate of poor sleep quality (75%) 36 . However, studies in other parts of the world have reported various rates, ranging from 25% in the USA 37 to approximately 45% in China 38 , 39 and Brazil 40 to 76% in community-dwelling older adults in Slovenia 41 , but the rates may be higher in nursing home residents (~ 95%) 41 , 42 . The difference in the sleep quality between countries may be due to differences in the economic status of the nations 43 .…”