The Moderating Effect of Sleep Duration on the Association Between Chronic Disease and Health‐Related Quality of Life in Middle‐Aged Women

This cross-sectional secondary data analysis aimed to examine the association between the number of chronic diseases and health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in middle-aged women and to determine whether sleep duration moderated this association. Data from 3062 women aged 46-70 years were obtained from the 2019 and 2021 Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Complex-samples t-tests, analysis of variance, and multiple regression analyses were conducted. A significant moderating effect of sleep duration was observed for the > 9 h/day group compared with the > 6-7 h/day reference group (p = 0.016), with a stronger negative association between the number of chronic diseases and HRQOL in this group. Participants in the > 6-7 h/day and > 7-8 h/day groups reported significantly higher HRQOL than those sleeping ≤ 5, > 8-9, and > 9 h/day (p < 0.001), and a greater number of chronic diseases was associated with lower HRQOL (p < 0.001). These findings suggest that sleep duration, particularly sleep duration of more than 9 h, may be considered when evaluating the association between the number of chronic diseases and HRQOL among middle-aged women.