Aim
There is strong interest in sleep disorders in the elderly, but there are gaps in identifying how multiple factors affect sleep quality in this population. We aimed to assess sleep quality and its relationship to mood, general cognition, and sociodemographic factors in a sample of cognitively active older adults.
Methods
We assessed 105 non‐clinical older adults (mean age ± SD: 69.64 ± 0.66 years) based on a sociodemographic profile questionnaire, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, the Beck Depression Inventory II, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index, and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale. Separate analyses were conducted, controlled by sleep quality and daytime sleepiness, to understand how variables were associated.
Results
About 46.7% of individuals had significantly poor sleep quality. Univariate analysis showed that non‐workers had a lower risk of impaired sleep quality (prevalence ratio (PR) = 0.67; P = 0.044). However, there was an increased risk of poor sleep quality in those experiencing depressive symptoms (PR = 1.78; P < 0.001) and anxiety symptoms (PR = 1.98; P < 0.001). In multivariate analysis, the language component of the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (PR = 0.80; P = 0.011) was associated with a lower risk of poor sleep quality, and anxiety symptoms (PR = 1.99; P < 0.001) remained significantly associated with a higher risk of poor sleep quality. No significant difference was observed in variables related to daytime sleepiness.
Conclusion
We found that overall quality of sleep potentially relates to mood, cognition, and sociodemographic factors. Further studies using multifactorial approaches to sleep investigation are required.