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ARS Home » Northeast Area » Boston, Massachusetts » Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #331272

Title: Association between sleep duration, insomnia symptoms and bone mineral density in older Puerto Rican adults

Author
item NIU, JINGYA - Chinese Academy Of Medical Sciences
item SAHNI, SHIVANI - Harvard Medical School
item LIAO, SUSU - Chinese Academy Of Medical Sciences
item TUCKER, KATHERINE - University Of Massachusetts
item DAWSON-HUGHES, BESS - Jean Mayer Human Nutrition Research Center On Aging At Tufts University
item GAO, XIANG - Pennsylvania State University

Submitted to: PLOS ONE
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/14/2015
Publication Date: 7/6/2015
Citation: Niu, J., Sahni, S., Liao, S., Tucker, K.L., Dawson-Hughes, B., Gao, X. 2015. Association between sleep duration, insomnia symptoms and bone mineral density in older Puerto Rican adults. PLoS One. 10(7):e0132342. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132342.

Interpretive Summary: We wanted to examine the association between sleep and bone mineral density (BMD) among Puerto Rican adults aged 47 79 years. We found that men who slept 9 hours a day or more had significantly lower femoral neck BMD, relative to those reporting 8 hours of sleep, after adjusting for age, smoking, physical activity, symptoms of depression, and serum vitamin D concentration. This association lost significance after further adjustment for urinary cortisol and serum inflammation biomarkers. In contrast, the association between sleep duration and BMD was not significant in women. Further, we did not find a significant association between insomnia symptoms and BMD in men or women. Our study does not support the hypothesis that shorter sleep duration and insomnia symptoms are associated with unfavorable BMD in older adults. However, our results should be interpreted with caution. Future studies with larger sample size, objective assessment of sleep pattern, and prospective design are needed before a conclusion regarding sleep and BMD can be reached.

Technical Abstract: Objective: To examine the association between sleep patterns (sleep duration and insomnia symptoms) and total and regional bone mineral density (BMD) among older Boston Puerto Rican adults. Materials/Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including 750 Puerto Rican adults, aged 47–79 y living in Massachusetts. BMD at 3 hip sites and the lumbar spine were measured using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry. Sleep duration (/= 29 h/d) and insomnia symptoms (difficulty initiating sleep, difficulty maintaining sleep, early-morning awaking, and non-restorative sleep) were assessed by a questionnaire. Multivariable regression was used to examine sex-specific associations between sleep duration, insomnia symptoms and BMD adjusting for standard confounders and covariates. Results: Men who slept >/= 29h/d had significantly lower femoral neck BMD, relative to those reporting 8 h/d sleep, after adjusting for age, education level, smoking, physical activity, depressive symptomatology, comorbidity and serum vitamin D concentration. This association was attenuated and lost significance after further adjustment for urinary cortisol and serum inflammation biomarkers. In contrast, the association between sleep duration and BMD was not significant in women. Further, we did not find any significant associations between insomnia symptoms and BMD in men or women. Conclusions: Our study does not support the hypothesis that shorter sleep duration and insomnia symtoms are associated with lower BMD levels in older adults. However, our results should be interpreted with caution. Future studies with larger sample size, objective assessment of sleep pattern, and prospective design are needed before a conclusion regarding sleep and BMD can be reached.