Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2015 Sep;70(5):673-81.
doi: 10.1093/geronb/gbt125. Epub 2013 Dec 10.

Sleep Architecture and Mental Health Among Community-Dwelling Older Men

Stephen F Smagula  1 , Charles F Reynolds 3rd  2 , Sonia Ancoli-Israel  3 , Elizabeth Barrett-Connor  4 , Thuy-Tien Dam  5 , Jan M Hughes-Austin  4 , Misti Paudel  6 , Susan Redline  7 , Katie L Stone  8 , Jane A Cauley  9 ; Osteoporotic Fractures in Men (MrOS) Research Group
Affiliations

Sleep Architecture and Mental Health Among Community-Dwelling Older Men

Stephen F Smagula et al. J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci. 2015 Sep.

Abstract

Objectives: To investigate the association of mood and anxiety symptoms with sleep architecture (the distribution of sleep stages) in community-dwelling older men.

Method: We used in-home unattended polysomnography to measure sleep architecture in older men. Men were categorized into 4 mental health categories: (a) significant depressive symptoms only (DEP+ only, Geriatric Depression Scale ≥ 6), (b) significant anxiety symptoms only (ANX+ only, Goldberg Anxiety Scale ≥ 5), (c) significant depressive and anxiety symptoms (DEP+/ANX+), or (d) no significant depressive or anxiety symptoms (DEP-/ANX-).

Results: Compared with men without clinically significant symptomology, men with depressive symptoms spent a higher percentage of time in Stage 2 sleep (65.42% DEP+ only vs 62.47% DEP-/ANX-, p = .003) and a lower percentage of time in rapid eye movement sleep (17.05% DEP+ only vs 19.44% DEP-/ANX-, p = .0005). These differences persisted after adjustment for demographic/lifestyle characteristics, medical conditions, medications, and sleep disturbances, and after excluding participants using psychotropic medications. The sleep architecture of ANX+ or DEP+/ANX+ men did not differ from asymptomatic men.

Discussion: Depressed mood in older adults may be associated with accelerated age-related changes in sleep architecture. Longitudinal community-based studies using diagnostic measures are needed to further clarify relationships among common mental disorders, aging, and sleep.

Keywords: Aging; Anxiety; Depression; Epidemiology; Sleep architecture.

PubMed Disclaimer

Comment in

References

    1. Achat H., Kawachi I., Spiro A., DeMolles D. A., Sparrow (2000). Optimism and depression as predictors of physical and mental health functioning: The Normative Aging Study. Ann Behav Med, 22, 127–130. http//dx..org/10.1007/BF02895776. PMID10962705 - PubMed
    1. Aikman G., Oehlert M. (2001). Geriatric Depression Scale. Clinical Gerontologist, 22, 63–70. 10.1300/J018v22n03_07
    1. Almeida O. P., Almeida S. A. (1999). Short versions of the geriatric depression scale: A study of their validity for the diagnosis of a major depressive episode according to ICD-10 and DSM-IV. International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, 14, 858–865. 10.1002/(SICI)1099-1166(199910)14:10<858::AID-GPS35>3.0.CO;2-8 - PubMed
    1. Ancoli-Israel S., Cole R., Alessi C., Chambers M., Moorcroft W., Pollak C. P. (2003). The role of actigraphy in the study of sleep and circadian rhythms. Sleep, 26, 342–392. PMID:12749557 - PubMed
    1. Berry R. B., Budhiraja R., Gottlieb D. J., Gozal D., Iber C., Kapur V. K., Tangredi M. M. (2012). Rules for scoring respiratory events in sleep: Update of the 2007 AASM Manual for the Scoring of Sleep and Associated Events. Deliberations of the Sleep Apnea Definitions Task Force of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine, 8, 597–619. 10.5664/jcsm.2172 - PMC - PubMed

Publication types