Sleep patterns and mortality among elderly patients in a geriatric hospital

Abstract

Background: Sleep disturbance is one of the major and unsolved problems in older people. Most of the previous sleep studies rely on self-reported documents, and memory disturbance in older people might bias sleep complaints and health status.

Objective: Sleep disturbances were studied as a mortality risk.

Methods: In 272 patients who were aged, infirmed and chronically institutionalized in a skilled-care geriatric hospital, the presence or absence of sleep disturbances were examined by hourly observations of patients over 2 weeks at baseline, and they were prospectively followed up for 2 years to assess mortality.

Results: Mortality after 2 years was significantly higher in the nighttime insomnia, daytime sleepiness, and sleep-onset delay groups. Further, adjusted for age, gender and activities of daily living status, the presence of nighttime insomnia and sleep-onset delay remained associated with a higher risk of mortality.

Conclusion: Sleep disturbance may be one of the symptoms indicating poor health or functional deficits, and be an independent risk factor for survival.