Associations of social isolation with sleep duration and sleep quality in the elderly: Mediating influence of depression

BACKGROUND: Sleep disorders are common health problems in the elderly. The effect of social isolation on sleep duration and sleep quality remains unclear in the Chinese community-dwelling elderly. AIM: To explore the associations of social isolation with sleep duration and sleep quality in community-dwelling elderly people. METHODS: A total of 7762 community-dwelling elderly people aged 60 years and older in Ningbo were recruited from June 2022 to August 2022. Data were collected using a questionnaire. Multivariate logistic regression was used to analyze the associations of social isolation with sleep duration and sleep quality. The KHB mediating effect model was used to test the mediating effect of depression and anxiety on these associations. RESULTS: Among the participants, 2656 (34.2%) had abnormal sleep duration (< 6 hours or > 8 hours), 1115 (14.4%) had poor sleep quality, and 917 (11.8%) had social isolation. After adjusting for confounding factors, compared with the elderly without social isolation, the odds ratios (95%CI) of abnormal sleep duration and poor sleep quality in the elderly with social isolation were 1.49 (1.29-1.73) and 1.32 (1.09-1.59), respectively. Depression partially mediated the associations of social isolation with sleep duration and sleep quality, accounting for 5.68% and 9.87% of the mediating effect, respectively. CONCLUSION: Social isolation was found to be associated with sleep duration and sleep quality in community-dwelling elderly people. More attention should be paid to social isolation in the elderly.