Association between sleep duration and depressive symptoms in Chinese aged 45 years and older: an empirical study based on 2018CHARLS

Abstract Background The relationship between sleep time and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people has not been fully revealed, and there are few empirical studies from China. Objective An empirical study was conducted based on 2018CHARLS to explore the association between sleep duration and depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people. Methods A total of 17293 middle-aged and elderly people aged ≥ 45 years were selected as the study subjects. Sleep duration was measured by the sum of night and day sleep duration, and depressive symptoms were detected by the Center for Depression Rating Scale (CES-10). Restricted cubic spline model (RCS) and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to explore the association between them. Results Among the 17293 middle-aged and elderly people, 27.0%, 53.5% and 19.5% had sleep duration < 6 h, 6-8.9 h and ≥ 9 h, respectively. The detection rate of depressive symptoms was 40.2%. RCS analysis showed that there was a U-shaped association between depressive symptoms and sleep duration (χ2 = 512.59, P < 0.001). The results of multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that compared with 7-7.9 h, sleep time < 6 h (OR = 1.309, 95%CI: 1.169–1.466) and 6-6.9 h (OR = 2.393, 95%CI: 2.156–2.656) were associated with high risk of depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people; Sleep duration < 6 h (OR = 1.323, 95%CI: 1.132–1.545) and 6-6.9 h (OR = 2.677, 95%CI: 2.312-3.100) were associated with high risk of depressive symptoms in women; Sleep duration < 6 h (OR = 1.493, 95%CI: 1.291–1.728), 6-6.9 h (OR = 3.454, 95%CI: 3.027–3.940), ≥ 9 h (OR = 1.287, 95%CI: 1.111–1.491) were associated with high risk of depressive symptoms in males; Sleep duration < 6 h (OR = 1.608, 95%CI: 1.295–1.997), 6-6.9 h (OR = 3.584, 95%CI: 2.930–4.385), ≥ 9 h (OR = 1.358, 95%CI: 1.053–1.735) were associated with depressive symptoms in urban middle-aged and elderly men Occurrence of high risk correlation; The sleep duration < 6 h (OR = 1.368, 95%CI: 1.209–1.547) and 6-6.9 h (OR = 3.073, 95%CI: 2.747–3.439) in rural middle-aged and elderly were associated with high risk of depressive symptoms, and the differences were statistically significant (P < 0.05). Conclusion There is a U-shaped association between sleep duration and the risk of depressive symptoms in middle-aged and elderly people. Insufficient sleep-in women and insufficient or too long sleep-in men may increase the risk of depressive symptoms.