0758 Associations Between Actigraphy-Assessed Step Activity and Sleep in Older Adults Following Acute Hospitalization

Abstract Introduction Three out of 10 older adults are admitted for acute care in U.S. hospitals where they are at risk for a rapid decline in physical function due to deconditioning. Clarifying the relationship between sleep and the recovery of physical functioning is a key step in facilitating independence following hospital discharge. Thus, this study aimed to examine the association between step activity and sleep parameters after an acute hospitalization in community dwelling older adults. Methods Patients (n=52; age 71.3 ± 6.8y, 75% female, 94.2% white), were recruited during an acute hospitalization. Participants completed sleep questionnaires including PROMIS Sleep-Related Impairment and Sleep Disturbance during acute hospitalization (baseline) and at 4-weeks post-discharge (follow-up). Participants were also given an ankle-worn accelerometer (Modus Stepwatch®) to continuously record the steps and active minutes in the hospital and the 4-week period following discharge. A subset of participants (n=26) also received an actigraphy device (Philips Actiwatch-2®) to measure number of awakenings and wake after sleep onset (WASO). Separate multivariate regression analyses were performed to determine whether steps activity predicted sleep parameters. Results An increase in active minutes was inversely associated with number of awakenings (-0.09±0.04, p=0.04), although the association with WASO was not significant. The average number of active minutes was inversely associated with PROMIS Sleep Disturbance score at follow-up (-0.12±0.06, p=0.04) and change in PROMIS Sleep-Related Impairment score (-0.12±0.05, p=0.03) from baseline to follow-up. Conclusion Together, these results demonstrated that increase in the number of minutes when steps are taken following hospitalization decreased the number of awakenings, sleep disturbance and sleep-related impairment. Support (if any) This work is supported by NIH Grant #s R01NR018342 (PI: Nowakowski), P30AG024832, UTMB Pepper OAIC, (PI: Volpi), UL1TR001439, (UTMB ITS); and the National Dairy Council (1229, PI: Volpi). Additional support was provided by the Center for Innovations in Quality, Effectiveness and Safety (CIN 13-413).