Community-dwelling Adults with Functional Limitations Are at Greater Risk for Sleep Disturbances

Megan K. Beckett, Marc N. Elliott, Megan Mathews, Steven C. Martino, Denis Agniel, Nathan Orr, Marco Hafner, Wendy M. Troxel

ResearchPosted on rand.org Feb 5, 2025Published in: Sleep Health, Volume 8, Issue 2, pages 140-145 (April 2022). DOI: 10.1016/j.sleh.2022.01.002

Objective

To evaluate whether sleep disturbances vary along a continuum of functional limitations in a large nationally representative sample of US adults.

Methods

Using 2014-2015 National Health Interview Survey data (n = 33,424), we considered associations between each of 5 sleep disturbance measures (duration, trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, use of sleep medications, waking rested) and Functional Limitations Index score, which distinguishes among adults with little-or-no (least-limited), moderate (somewhat-limited), and high functional limitations (most-limited).

Results

Somewhat-limited and most-limited respondents reported significantly worse sleep health for all sleep disturbance measures than people with little-or-no limitations, even controlling for body mass index, psychological distress, and 14 health indicators.

Conclusions

People with significant self-reported limitations in physical functioning, independent of specific disabilities or disabling condition, report more sleep disturbances. Clinicians may want to evaluate the sleep health of patients with functional limitations.

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Topics

Document Details

  • Copyright: National Sleep Foundation
  • Publisher: Elsevier Inc
  • Availability: Non-RAND
  • Year: 2022
  • Pages: 6
  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.7249/pubs
  • Document Number: EP-70842

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