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 Nov;22(11):1182-9.
doi: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000460.

Cluster analysis of midlife women's sleep-related symptoms: racial/ethnic differences

Eun-Ok Im  1 , Young Ko, Eunice Chee, Wonshik Chee
Affiliations

Cluster analysis of midlife women's sleep-related symptoms: racial/ethnic differences

Eun-Ok Im et al. Menopause. 2015 Nov.

Abstract

Objective: The purpose of this study was to identify clusters of midlife women by sleep-related symptoms in multiethnic groups and to examine racial/ethnic differences in the clusters.

Methods: This secondary analysis was conducted on data from 1,054 midlife women who participated in two cross-sectional descriptive national Internet surveys. The instruments included questions on background characteristics, health, and menopause status, and the Sleep Index for Midlife Women. The data were analyzed using hierarchical clustering methods, χ2 test, analysis of variance, and multinomial logistic regression analyses.

Results: A four-cluster solution was adopted: cluster 1 (low total symptoms group), cluster 2 (moderate physical and psychosomatic symptoms group), cluster 3 (moderate psychological symptoms group), and cluster 4 (high total symptoms group). There were significant differences in education, employment status, family income, social support, country of birth, race/ethnicity, body mass index, perceived general health, diagnosed disease, access to health care, and menopause status among clusters (P < 0.05). In cluster 1 only, there were significant racial/ethnic differences in the total number of total severity scores for physical symptoms (P < 0.01). When racial/ethnic differences in individual symptoms in each cluster were determined, there were no consistent racial/ethnic differences.

Conclusions: Researchers need to consider that racial/ethnic differences could be prominent in midlife women with low sleep-related symptoms.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflict of interest/financial disclosure.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. The distributions of participants by cluster solution (two, three, four and five cluster solutions)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

References

    1. Avis NE, Stellato R, Crawford S, et al. Is there a menopausal syndrome? Menopausal status and symptoms across racial/ethnic groups. Soc Sci Med. 2001;52:345–356. - PubMed
    1. U. S. National Library of Medicine. Sleep disorders - overview. [Accessed Novemebr 22 2014]; http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmedhealth/PMH0001803/. Updated January 22 2014.
    1. Kravitz HM, Joffe H. Sleep during the perimenopause: a SWAN story. Obstet Gynecol Clin North Am. 2011;38:567–586. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ramos AR, Wohlgemuth WK, Dong C, et al. Race-ethnic differences of sleep symptoms in an elderly multi-ethnic cohort: the Northern Manhattan Study. Neuroepidemiology. 2011;37:210–215. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Massart DL, Kaufman L. The interpretation of analytical chemical data by the use of cluster analysis. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.; 1983.

Publication types