The association between sleep and depressive symptoms in US adults: data from the NHANES (2007–2014)

Abstract Aims To assess the association of sleep factors (sleep duration, trouble sleeping, sleep disorder) and combined sleep behaviours with the risk of clinically relevant depression (CRD). Methods A total of 17 859 participants (8806 males and 9053 females) aged 20–79 years from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2007–2014 waves were included. Sleep duration, trouble sleeping and sleep disorder were asked in the home by trained interviewers using the Computer-Assisted Personal Interviewing (CAPI) system. The combined sleep behaviours were referred to as ‘sleep patterns (healthy, intermediate and poor)’, with a ‘healthy sleep pattern’ defined as sleeping 7–9 h per night with no self-reported trouble sleeping or sleep disorders. And intermediate and poor sleep patterns indicated 1 and 2–3 sleep problems, respectively. Weighted logistic regression was performed to evaluate the association of sleep factors and sleep patterns with the risk of depressive symptoms. Results The total prevalence of CRD was 9.5% among the 17 859 participants analysed, with females having almost twice as frequency than males. Compared to normal sleep duration (7–9 h), both short and long sleep duration were linked with a higher risk of CRD (short sleep: OR: 1.66, 95% CI: 1.39–1.98; long sleep: OR: 2.75, 95% CI: 1.93–3.92). The self-reported sleep complaints, whether trouble sleeping or sleep disorder, were significantly related with CRD (trouble sleeping: OR: 3.04, 95% CI: 2.59–3.56; sleep disorder: OR: 1.83, 95% CI: 1.44–2.34). Furthermore, the correlations appeared to be higher for individuals with poor sleep pattern (OR: 5.98, 95% CI: 4.91–7.29). Conclusions In this national representative survey, it was shown that there was a dose-response relationship between sleep patterns and CRD.