Enduring sleep complaints predict health problems: a six-year follow-up of the survey of health and retirement in Europe^*

* This manuscript is our original unpublished work. It is not being considered for publication elsewhere.

ABSTRACT

Objectives: Sleep complaints are common and enduring among old people. The study aimed to extend current knowledge by exploring the effects of episodic versus chronic sleep complaints on a range of physical and mental health outcomes.

Methods: Older adults (N = 8934, mean age = 64) who participated in Waves 1, 2 and 4 of the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe (SHARE) reported sleep and health outcome measures. Episodic sleep complaints, in the first or in the second wave and chronic sleep complaints, in both waves were recorded. Outcomes in Wave 4 included physical symptoms, difficulties in activities of daily living and low quality of life.

Results: Logistic regressions examined whether episodic and chronic sleep complaints at W1 and W2 predict W4 health outcomes. Chronic sleep complaints predicted worse outcomes, compared to no sleep difficulties and to episodic sleep complaints, even after adjusting for demographic characteristics and previous levels of health.

Conclusion: Sleep complaints and mainly chronic sleep complaints are related to elevated risk of future health and functional problems. Caregivers are encouraged to address sleep complaints and provide their older patients with help before sleep complaints become persistent.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic sleep complaints
• persistent
• episodic
• elderly
• SHARE

Disclosure statement

No disclosures to report.

Ethics

This was not an experimental study, nor was the data collected for the current study.

Notes

1. Data from Wave 3 (2008) was not used in the current study, as it constituted a retrospective inquiry into the life stories of the participants, and did not include questions regarding sleep disturbances or other health outcomes.

Additional information

Funding

This paper uses data from SHARE Waves 1 and 2 release 2.5.0, as of 24 May 2011, and SHARE Wave 4 release 1.1.1, as of 28 March 2013. The SHARE data collection has been primarily funded by the European Commission through the 5th Framework Programme (project QLK6-CT-2001-00360 in the thematic programme Quality of Life), through the 6th Framework Programme (projects SHARE-I3, RII-CT-2006-062193, COMPARE, CIT5-CT-2005-028857) and through the 7th Framework Programme (SHARE-PREP, N 211909, SHARE-LEAP, N 227822 and SHARE M4, N 261982). Additional funding from the U.S. National Institute on Aging (U01 AG09740-13S2, P01 AG005842, P01 AG08291, P30 AG12815, R21 AG025169, Y1-AG-4553-01, IAG BSR06-11 and OGHA 04-064) and the German Ministry of Education and Research as well as from various national sources is gratefully acknowledged (see www.share-project.org for a full list of funding institutions).