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Clinical Summary

Poor sleep tied to poor bone health in women

Takeaway

  • Short sleep duration is associated with lower bone mineral density (BMD) and higher odds of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women.

 Key results

  • Compared with peers reporting sleeping 7 hours per night, women reporting sleeping ≤5 hours per night had lower adjusted BMD across sites:
    • Whole body (β, −0.018 [95% CI, −0.025 to −0.011] g/cm2).
    • Total hip (β, −0.015 [95% CI, −0.024 to −0.006] g/cm2).
    • Femoral neck (β, –0.012 [95% CI, −0.019 to −0.004] g/cm2).
    • Spine (β, −0.018 [95% CI, −0.029 to −0.006] g/cm2).
  • Women reporting ≤5 hours per night had higher adjusted odds of:
    • Low bone mass of hip (aOR, 1.22; 95% CI, 1.03-1.45).
    • Osteoporosis of hip (aOR, 1.63; 95% CI, 1.15-2.31).
    • Osteoporosis of spine (aOR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.02-1.60).
  • Sleep quality, assessed with insomnia rating scale, was not significantly associated with BMD.

Study design

  • Cross-sectional cohort study of 11,084 postmenopausal women from Women’s Health Initiative (mean age, 63.3 years).
  • Main outcomes: BMD of various sites; dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry–defined low bone mass (T-score <–2.5 to <–1), osteoporosis (T-score ≤–2.5).
  • Funding: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.

Limitations

  • Self-reporting of sleep measures.
  • Residual and unmeasured confounding.
  • Unknown generalisability.

References


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