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Sleep Complaints and Visual Impairment Among Older Americans

A Community-Based Study

^a Departments of Ophthalmology, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn
^b Departments of Psychiatry, State University of New York Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn
^c Sleep Center, Kingsbrook Jewish Medical Center, Brooklyn, New York
^d Department of Psychology, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York

Ferdinand Zizi, SUNY Downstate Medical Center, Department of Ophthalmology, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Box 58, Brooklyn, NY 11203 E-mail: fzizi{at}downstate.edu.

Background. This report describes the associations between sleep complaints and reported visual impairment in an urban community-residing older adult sample.

Methods. A total of 1118 volunteers from a biracial cohort participated in the study (mean age = 74 ± 6; mean body mass index = 28 ± 10). Volunteers were recruited using a stratified, cluster sampling technique. In a standard order, several questionnaires were administered, soliciting information on socioeconomic status, physical health, social support, and emotional experience. The physical health questionnaire included questions on whether or not the volunteer experienced sleep disorder, visual impairment, heart disease, respiratory disease, arthritis, and hypertension. In this report, we present data on the prevalence of reported sleep problems and visual impairment among older adults.

Results. Of the total sample, 9% used sleep medicine, 25% reported difficulty falling asleep, 52% indicated experiencing difficulty maintaining sleep, 28% reported waking up early in the morning, and 12% reported daytime sleep longer than 2 hours. Chi-square results showed greater sleep complaints for volunteers with visual impairment. Consistent with these results, analysis of variance revealed that visually impaired volunteers had a higher index rate of sleep disturbance (F_{(1, 1110)} = 35.32, p < .0001).

Conclusions. These data provide evidence that older adults reporting visual impairment are also likely to report sleep complaints. This verifies laboratory findings of an association of ophthalmic diseases with sleep-wake problems and with circadian rhythm abnormalities.