The Association of Sleeping Duration and Sleep Problems With All‐Cause Mortality Among a Cohort of Industrial Workers Followed Up for 36 Years

Background Sleep duration is a well‐established factor associated with all‐cause mortality and cardiovascular mortality. Poor sleep quality was also suggested to affect all‐cause mortality risk among adults. The Cardiovascular Occupational Risk Factor determination in Israel Study (CORDIS) is a prospective cohort study of industrial workers who entered the study during 1985–1990 and have been followed for 36 years. We examined the relationship between sleep duration, sleeping problems and difficulties, and all‐cause mortality in the CORDIS cohort. Method Self‐reported data, including sleep duration and sleeping problems, from 7287 participants were merged with data on all‐cause mortality obtained from the National Death Registry and the Central Bureau of Statistics. Results Over the 36‐year follow‐up, 2159 participants died: 445 were < 45 years and 1714 were ≥ 45 years. Sleep duration of ≤ 5 h significantly increased mortality risk (hazard ratio [HR] = 1.30, p = 0.0032), with a more pronounced effect in those < 45 years (HR = 1.55, p = 0.0028). Sleeping problems also increased mortality risk (HR = 1.30, p = 0.0088), with a stronger association among younger individuals (HR = 1.63, p = 0.0399). Conversely, difficulty sleeping when anticipating something unpleasant was linked to increased mortality only in those aged ≥ 45 years (HR = 1.17, p = 0.0440). Conclusions Our analysis showed that short sleep duration and sleeping problems are significant predictors for all‐cause mortality, particularly in younger individuals (< 45 years). These results emphasize the importance of addressing sleep problems among different age groups to potentially reduce mortality risk.