Skip to main content
ARS Home » Plains Area » Houston, Texas » Children's Nutrition Research Center » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #350660
Title: Individual correlates of sleep among childbearing women in Canada

Author
item VEZINA-IM, LYDI-ANNE - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item LEBEL, ALEXANDRE - Laval University
item GAGNON, PIERRE - Quebec Heart And Lung Research Institute
item NICKLAS, THERESA - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)
item BARANOWSKI, TOM - Children'S Nutrition Research Center (CNRC)

Submitted to: Behavioral Sleep Medicine
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 1/18/2018
Publication Date: 2/13/2018
Citation: Vezina-Im, L., Lebel, A., Gagnon, P., Nicklas, T.A., Baranowski, T. 2018. Individual correlates of sleep among childbearing women in Canada. Behavioral Sleep Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1080/15402002.2018.1435547.

Interpretive Summary: Sleep is an important health phenomenon related to chronic disease risks. Identifying characteristics associated with sleep could inform the design of interventions to help women of childbearing age get adequate amounts and quality of sleep. This study identified the self-reported correlates of sleep duration and quality among women of childbearing age in a large national Canadian data set. Ethnicity, number of children conceived, living in an urban area and smoking were related to having short sleep duration (<7 hours). Ethnicity, level of education, mood disorders (e.g. anxiety, depression), geographic locale, low fruit and vegetable intakes and alcohol consumption were related to poorer quality sleep. Both models found weak relationships with sleep. This study's findings need to be replicated with more objective measures of correlates.

Technical Abstract: Women of childbearing age (WOCBA) may be at high risk for short or poor sleep. Yet few studies have focused on this population. The study objective was to identify individual correlates of sleep duration and quality among WOCBA. The sample consisted of 9,749 WOCBA aged 18–44 years from the Canadian Community Health Survey 2011–2014. All variables were self-reported. Sleep duration was dichotomized as insufficient (<7 hr/night) or adequate (=7 hr/night). A composite score of sleep quality was dichotomized as having sleeping problems none/little or some/most/all the time. Age, ethnicity, level of education, household income, mood disorders, parity, geographical location, fruit and vegetable (FV) intake, physical activity, smoking and alcohol consumption were tested as correlates of sleep duration or quality using hierarchical logistic regression. Our findings showed that ethnicity, parity, geographical location and smoking were correlates of sleep duration; this model discriminated 56.9% of WOCBA. Ethnic minorities, WOCBA with many children, living in urban areas and smoking were associated with lower odds of having adequate sleep duration. Ethnicity, level of education, mood disorders, geographical location, FV intake, and alcohol consumption were correlates of sleep quality; this model discriminated 59.0% of WOCBA. Ethnic minorities, lower level of education, mood disorders, living in urban areas, low FV intake, and alcohol consumption were associated with lower odds of having quality sleep. Some WOCBA may be more at risk for short or poor sleep based on their demographics and health behaviors. This can be used to identify which WOCBA are most in need of sleep interventions.