TY - JOUR
T1 - Association of sleep quality with telomere length, a marker of cellular aging
T2 - A retrospective cohort study of older adults in the United States
AU - Iloabuchi, Chibuzo
AU - Innes, Kim E.
AU - Sambamoorthi, Usha
N1 - Funding Information:
The HRS (Health and Retirement Study) is sponsored by the National Institute on Aging (grant number NIA U01AG009740 ) and is conducted by the University of Michigan .
Funding Information:
Research reported in this publication was supported by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute of General Medical Sciences award number 2U54GM104942-02 and in part by the NIH National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health award number 1 R15 AT008606 . The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the NIH.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019 National Sleep Foundation
PY - 2020/8
Y1 - 2020/8
N2 - Background: Sleep quality is a risk factor for age-related diseases, and although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, the effects of poor sleep quality on telomere length (TL) may play a role. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the independent association between sleep quality and salivary TL in a large sample of older adults. Design: We adopted a retrospective cohort design, and participants comprised 5,268 adults drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. We used the 2006 (baseline) and 2008 (follow-up) waves. Baseline sleep quality was assessed using 4 Likert scale questions (trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early and not being able to fall sleep again, and feeling well rested in the morning). The TL was assessed using the T/S ratio, a continuous variable. The associations between sleep quality and T/S were assessed using multivariable ordinary least squares regressions. All analyses were adjusted for demographics, lifestyle characteristics, psychosocial, and other factors. Results: Overall, 16% reported never feeling well rested in the morning; 25.7% of respondents always had trouble waking during the night; and 12.8% always had trouble waking up too early in the morning. Respondents who never felt rested in the morning had significantly shorter TL than those who always felt rested in the morning (adjusted beta = -0.08, standard error = 0.03, P < .01). The composite sleep measure was not significantly associated with shorter TL. Conclusions: In this cohort of older adults, not feeling well rested in the morning was significantly and inversely associated with TL; however, the composite measure of sleep quality was not significantly associated with TL. These findings suggest a potential connection between one of the measures of impaired sleep and reduction in TL, a marker of cellular aging that has been linked to multiple chronic conditions.
AB - Background: Sleep quality is a risk factor for age-related diseases, and although the underlying mechanisms remain unclear, the effects of poor sleep quality on telomere length (TL) may play a role. Objective: The objective of the study was to evaluate the independent association between sleep quality and salivary TL in a large sample of older adults. Design: We adopted a retrospective cohort design, and participants comprised 5,268 adults drawn from the Health and Retirement Study. We used the 2006 (baseline) and 2008 (follow-up) waves. Baseline sleep quality was assessed using 4 Likert scale questions (trouble falling asleep, waking up during the night, waking up too early and not being able to fall sleep again, and feeling well rested in the morning). The TL was assessed using the T/S ratio, a continuous variable. The associations between sleep quality and T/S were assessed using multivariable ordinary least squares regressions. All analyses were adjusted for demographics, lifestyle characteristics, psychosocial, and other factors. Results: Overall, 16% reported never feeling well rested in the morning; 25.7% of respondents always had trouble waking during the night; and 12.8% always had trouble waking up too early in the morning. Respondents who never felt rested in the morning had significantly shorter TL than those who always felt rested in the morning (adjusted beta = -0.08, standard error = 0.03, P < .01). The composite sleep measure was not significantly associated with shorter TL. Conclusions: In this cohort of older adults, not feeling well rested in the morning was significantly and inversely associated with TL; however, the composite measure of sleep quality was not significantly associated with TL. These findings suggest a potential connection between one of the measures of impaired sleep and reduction in TL, a marker of cellular aging that has been linked to multiple chronic conditions.
KW - Biology of aging
KW - Biomarkers
KW - Population health
KW - Sleep quality
KW - Telomeres
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85091197199&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.sleh.2019.12.003
DO - 10.1016/j.sleh.2019.12.003
M3 - Article
C2 - 32229187
AN - SCOPUS:85091197199
SN - 2352-7218
VL - 6
SP - 513
EP - 521
JO - Sleep Health
JF - Sleep Health
IS - 4
ER -