0990 Examining the Relationship Between Sleep Duration and Depression

Abstract Introduction The full psychological effects of sleep on depression and anxiety are still being investigated. It has been hypothesized that genetic contributions to depressive symptoms increase at both short and long sleep durations. This study aims to see if there is a correlation between duration of sleep and depression and if sociodemographic factors affect this correlation. Methods A secondary dataset from National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys conducted during 2015 – 2018 with 11,689 individuals was obtained. Questions were asked in the home by trained interviewers regarding sleep duration with the following questions “what time do you usually go to sleep on weekdays or workdays,” “what time do you usually wake up on weekdays or workdays,” and “how much sleep do you usually get at night on weekdays or workdays?” Depression was assessed with the standard PHQ-9 with 0-4 defined as minimal depression, 5-14 as moderate, and 15-27 as severe depression. Results The unadjusted data analysis showed that those with short sleep duration had 1.72 times higher likelihood for mild to moderate depression (p 0.001) and 2.05 times higher likelihood for moderate to severe depression (p 0.001). Those with long sleep duration had 1.54 times higher likelihood of mild to moderate depression (p 0.001) and 2.01 times higher chance of moderate to severe depression (p 0.001). When adjusted for the following variables: ethnicity, marital status, education, income, alcohol consumption, obesity, and smoking, those with short sleep duration had 1.63 times higher chance of mild to moderate depression (p 0.001) and 1.84 times higher chance of moderate to severe depression (p 0.001) and those with long sleep duration had 1.32 times higher likelihood of mild to moderate depression (p 0.001) and 1.65 times higher chance of moderate to severe depression (p= 0.002). Conclusion These results confirm that any change to sleep duration, whether short or long, is correlated with increased rates of either moderate or severe depression. This study reflects correlation not causation therefore it is possible that sleep duration affects depression or vice versa. While there are many sociodemographic factors that can affect this correlation, the correlation persists when adjusting for these factors. Support (if any)