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Abstract Introduction Although individual sleep characteristics relate to mental and physical health among older adults, such sleep characteristics do not exist in isolation. Multidimensional sleep measures may better capture the comprehensive impact of sleep on health. However, few studies have examined multidimensional sleep health in relation to mental and physical health outcomes among retired older adults. Likewise, few studies have examined sex differences in these relationships. This study examined associations between multidimensional sleep and health outcomes (i.e., depressive symptoms, mental health, physical health, and overall perceived health) among retired older adults in models stratified by sex. Methods Older adults (n = 154; Mage = 68.4, 55.2 % assigned female at birth) reported depressive symptoms (CES-D), and perceived mental, physical, and overall health (RAND-12). The measurement of multidimensional sleep health involved utilizing wrist actigraphy to assess sleep efficiency, timing, duration, and regularity, alongside diary measures to evaluate alertness and satisfaction. Each component was dichotomized and summed to create a composite score (0-6); higher values indicated better sleep health. Hierarchical linear regressions were used to examine relationships between multidimensional sleep health and health outcomes. Covariates include race, age, years of education, subjective social status, and shiftwork exposure history. Results Compared to men, women had poorer multidimensional sleep health (t(135)=2.38, p=.028). In the full sample, poorer multidimensional sleep was associated with greater depressive symptoms (b = -.70, se = .31, p =.024, r2 = .39) as well as poorer physical (b = 1.03, se = .37, p = .006, r2 = .45), mental (b = 1.37, se = .40, p .001, r2 = .44), and overall perceived health (b = 1.42, se = .35, p .001, r2 = .52). Sex-stratified analyses showed that significant findings were exclusively evident in women and not in men. Conclusion Multidimensional sleep health influences the physical and mental health among older retired women. Future studies should identify the mechanisms underlying sex differences in multidimensional sleep and the links between multidimensional and health outcomes. Such information could provide valuable insights leading to tailored therapeutics that benefit each sex. Support (if any) This research was supported by the National Institute of Aging (R01AG047139; K01AG0751).
Tracy et al. (Sat,) studied this question.