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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Monika Wahi, MPH and Skai Schwartz, PhD. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, University of South Florida, Byrd Institute, 15310 Amberly Drive, Suite 320, Tampa, FL 33647, 8138661610 ext 4121, mwahi@byrdinstitute.org

Sleep disturbances have been shown to be independent risk factors for mortality in older populations in some studies, but not others. Five-year data from The Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Studies of the Elderly, an ongoing longitudinal study of 3,050 Mexican Americans from five areas in the United States, provide an opportunity to explore the association between sleep disturbances and mortality independent of demographic variables and other mortality risks. In Cox proportional hazards models, after adjustment for confounders, the sleep complaints of waking up several times per night 1-14 days (HR 0.658, 95 percent CI: 0.447, 0.969) and 15 or more days (HR 0.441, 95 percent CI: 0.247, 0.789), and waking up feeling tired and worn out 1-14 days (HR 0.582, 95 percent CI: 0.370, 0.915) and 15+ days (HR 0.472, 95 percent CI: 0.234, 0.955) in the previous month were strongly negatively associated with mortality. Sex-specific analysis found a stronger association in men for waking up several times per night, and in women for waking up tired and worn out. These findings may be explained by information bias or confounding by socio-demographic characteristics; or they may reflect a different underlying physiological mechanism in Mexican Americans vs. other ethnicities.

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