Association Between Sleep Duration and Health Outcome in Elderly Taiwanese

Background: The aim was to assess the relationship between sleep duration and self-rated health outcome in the elderly Taiwanese. Methods: The data were drawn from the National Survey on Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Health Promotion 2002 (HPKAP 2002) in Taiwan. Three thousand seven hundred and thirty-one elderly participants (≧ 65 years of age) completed this survey, including 1955 men (52.4%) and 1776 women (47.6%). The anonymous questionnaire collected information on demographic data, sleep duration, health status, and health behaviors. After adjusting for various risk factors, a multiple logistic regression model was applied to compare the participants sleeping an average of 6 to 8 hours/night with those sleeping ≦ 5 hours and ≧ 9 hours. Results: A U-shaped relationship was found in elderly participants, with both short and long sleep durations and a higher risk of poor health perception (≦ 5 hours/night: OR = 1.13, 95% CI 0.93–1.36; ≧ 9 hours/night: OR = 1.30, 95% CI 1.01–1.75), depression (≦ 5 hours/night: OR = 1.35, 95% CI 1.02–1.86), chronic diseases (especially heart disease and limited activity), and unhealthy habits (≧ 9 hours/night: smoking – OR = 1.24, 95% CI 1.02–1.46; no exercise – OR = 1.52, 95% CI 1.17–1.97). Conclusion: A U-shaped relationship was observed between the self-reported sleep duration with risk prevalence and health outcome in the elderly population, although not all results showed a significant difference. A progressively higher change was observed during short and long sleep durations in our study