Previous research has established that short sleep duration is associated with poorer health outcomes, but there are no data on how too little sleep may affect bone health. In this cross-sectional study, researchers analyzed the relationship between sleep duration and bone mineral density (BMD) and osteoporosis in a group of post-menopausal women. A total of 11,084 patients (mean [standard deviation (SD)] age, 63.3 [7.4] years) from the Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) were included in the study. Women self-reported their usual hours of sleep and sleep quality per the WHI Insomnia Rating Score; patients were also evaluated for whole body, total hip, femoral neck, and spine BMD, and the relationship between sleep and BMD was reviewed through linear regression models. Through multinomial regression models, the authors further explored how sleep duration and quality may be linked to dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA)‐defined low bone mass (T‐score < −2.5 to <−1) and osteoporosis (T‐score ≤ −2.5). Analyses took into consideration age, DXA machine, race, menopausal symptoms, education, smoking, physical activity, body mass index, alcohol use, physical function, and sleep medication use. The researchers observed through adjusted linear regression models that women who slept for five hours or less per night had lower BMD at all four measured sites compared with women who slept at least seven hours per night (average difference for all four, 0.012-0.018 g/cm2). Analysis through adjusted multinomial models observed that women with five hours or less of nightly sleep were more likely to have low bone mass (odds ratio [OR], 1.22; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.03-1.45) and osteoporosis of the hip (OR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.15-2.31). The association between low sleep duration and osteoporosis was also observed for spine BMD (adjusted OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.02-1.60). Sleep quality and DXA BMD were not significantly correlated. The study authors called for future longitudinal studies to confirm their findings.
Sleep Duration Correlated with Bone Health in Women
