0270 Racial/Ethnic Sleep Health Related to Mental Health: Data from the National Sleep Foundation Sleep in America Poll

Abstract Introduction Sleep disparities are well-documented in the population. Rarely are multiple dimensions of sleep experience evaluated on a national level, however. Even more novel is the implication that these differences are partially explained by mental health disparities. Methods Data from the Sleep In America Poll included a population-level sample of US adults. N=1042 adults provided complete data. Sleep health metrics included weekday and weekend bedtime and waketime, time in bed, and sleep duration, perceived sleep need, sleep debt (sleep need – duration), and days/week of: feeling well-rested, difficulty falling asleep, difficulty staying asleep, sleep impacting daytime function, daytime sleepiness, and taking sleep medication. Covariates included age, sex, education, household income, and PHQ9 depression score (without the sleep item). Linear regression analyses examined sleep variable as dependent variable and race/ethnicity (Non-Hispanic White, Black/African-American, Hispanic/Latino or Asian/Other) as independent variable, adjusted for covariates. Secondary analyses examined race/ethnicity-by-depression interactions. Results In population-weighted, adjusted analyses, compared to non-Hispanic Whites, Blacks/African-Americans reported 0.78hr delayed weekend waketime (95%CI: 0.14,1.43) an additional 0.49 days/week of daytime sleepiness (95%CI: 0.05,0.93), 0.47 fewer days/week taking sleeping medications (95%CI: -0.80,-0.14), 0.41hr perceived sleep need (95%CI: -0.74,-0.10), and 0.51hr weekday less sleep duration (95%CI: -0.87,-0.15). Hispanics/Latinos reported 1.05 days/week difficulty staying asleep (95%CI: -1.42,-0.67) and 0.38 fewer days/week taking sleep medications (95%CI: -0.70,-0.07). Asians/others reported 0.73 fewer days/week with trouble staying asleep (95%CI: -1.26,-0.19) and 0.51 fewer days/week taking sleep medications. Significant group-by-depression interactions were seen for weekday and weekend bedtime, weekday time in bed, days/week well rested, perceived sleep need, weekday sleep duration, and sleep debt. Stratified analyses showed that Blacks/African Americans and Asians/Others especially reported worse sleep health in the presence of higher depression scores, compared to Non-Hispanic Whites. Conclusion Several dimensions of sleep health were disproportionately experienced across race/ethnicity groups in the US. In particular, worse sleep health in Blacks/African-Americans and Asians/Others was further impacted by depression symptoms. Future work should further explore the role of mental health disparities in sleep health and mental health interventions may reduce sleep disparities. Support (if any)