Short sleep duration increases the risk of diseases in older adults exercise practitioners

Abstract Background: Aging causes changes in sleep and thus can increase the risk of developing diverse diseases. However, little is still known about the impact of sleep duration in some conditions of older adults who exercise regularly. Aim: To evaluate the association between diseases and short sleep duration in older adults who are practitioners of physical exercise. Methods: This is a cross-sectional observational study. Two hundred and sixteen older adults (70.2±6.81 years) were investigated. Sociodemographic and health characteristics were collected by interview using questionnaires. The Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) was applied to assess sleep quality and sleep duration. Sleep duration was classified as short when the older adults slept less than seven hours per night. A Poisson regression model was used, adopting a 5% significance level. Results: The prevalence of poor sleep quality in the sample was 47.7% (95%CI: 44.4-50.9). In addition, 43.1% (95%CI: 36.5-49.6) of the older adults had short sleep duration. Older adults with arthrosis (p=0.008), depression (p=0.043), diabetes (p=0.005), heart disease (p=0.008), fibromyalgia (p<0.001), and urinary incontinence (p=0.004) had a higher PSQI score than those without these diseases. In regression analysis, hypothyroidism (PR=1.63; 95%CI: 1.19-2.23) and fibromyalgia (PR=1.68; 95%CI: 1.07-2.62) were associated with short sleep duration. Conclusions: Older adults with hypothyroidism and fibromyalgia are more likely to sleep less than seven hours per night compared to those without these diseases. Multidisciplinary interventions are important to improve sleep and the quality of life of older adults.