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
. 2013 Autumn;23(4):499-507.

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in sleep and chronic disease: results of a longitudinal investigation

Rebecca S Piccolo  1 , May Yang  2 , Donald L Bliwise  3 , H Klar Yaggi  4 , Andre B Araujo  2
Affiliations

Racial and socioeconomic disparities in sleep and chronic disease: results of a longitudinal investigation

Rebecca S Piccolo et al. Ethn Dis. 2013 Autumn.

Abstract

Objectives: Sleep problems appear to differentially affect racial minorities and people of lower socioeconomic status (SES). These population subgroups also have higher rates of many debilitating diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), hypertension, coronary heart disease, stroke, and mortality. Considering the presence of social disparities in sleep and chronic disease, this research aims to assess the role of sleep disparities in the incidence of obesity, T2DM, hypertension, and/or cardiovascular disease (CVD).

Design: The Boston Area Community Health (BACH) Survey is a population-based random-sample cohort of 5502 participants aged 30-79. Sleep restriction (< or = 5 hours/night) and restless sleep were assessed at baseline. Health status was ascertained at baseline and approximately 5 years later among 1610 men and 2535 women who completed follow-up.

Setting: Participants completed an in-person, home visit, interview at baseline (2002-2005) and follow-up (2006-2010).

Participants: Boston, Massachusetts residents (2301 men, 3201 women) aged 30-79 years from three racial groups (1767 Black, 1876 Hispanic, 1859 White) participated in the BACH Survey.

Results: There were significant differences in the prevalence of sleep-related problems at baseline by both race and SES as well as significant disparities in the incidence of T2DM, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease at follow-up. Restless sleep was associated with an increased risk of obesity, T2DM, and CVD. However, we found that sleep does not mediate social disparities in health outcomes.

Conclusions: Results from the BACH Survey confirm large social disparities in health outcomes as well as large social disparities in short sleep duration and restless sleep. However, sleep did not appear to mediate the relationship between race, SES, and health disparities.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Social disparities in sleep in the BACH Survey
Figure 2
Figure 2
What is the main effect of sleep on incidence of disease in the BACH Survey?
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Colten H, Altevogt B, editors. Institute of Medicine Report: Sleep Disorders and Sleep Deprivation, An Unmet Public Health Problem. The National Academies press; Washington, D.C.: 2006. - PubMed
    1. Stamatakis KA, Kaplan GA, Roberts RE. Short sleep duration across income, education, and race/ethnic groups: population prevalence and growing disparities during 34 years of follow-up. Ann Epidemiol. 2007 Dec;17(12):948–955. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hairston KG, Bryer-Ash M, Norris JM, Bowden DW, Wagenknecht LE. Sleep duration and five-year abdominal fat accumulation in a minority cohort: the IRAS family study. Sleep. 2009;33(3):289–295. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Patel SR, Hu FB. Short sleep duration and weight gain: a systematic review. Obesity (Silver Spring) 2008 Mar;16(3):643–653. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ayas N, White D, Al-Delaimy W, et al. A prospective study of self-reported sleep duration and incident diabetes in women. Diabetes Care. 2003;26(2):380–384. - PubMed

Publication types