Objectives: To determine whether self-reported insomnia symptoms were associated with weight change in older women and whether caregiving, comorbidities, sleep medication, or stress modified this association.
Design: One-year prospective study conducted in four communities from 1999 to 2003 nested within a larger cohort study.
Setting: Home-based interviews.
Participants: Nine hundred eighty-eight participants (354 caregivers and 634 noncaregivers) from the Caregiver--Study of Osteoporotic Fractures.
Measurements: Self-reported insomnia symptoms in the previous month: trouble falling asleep, trouble staying asleep, and waking early and having trouble getting back to sleep. Weight was measured at baseline and 12 months.
Results: The average weight change was -1.9 ± 7.8 pounds. Trouble staying asleep was significantly associated with an average weight loss of 1.3 pounds (P = .03) in multivariable analyses. Neither of the other insomnia symptoms was associated with weight change. Use of sleep medications modified the association between trouble falling asleep (interaction term P = .03) and weight change. Insomnia symptoms were associated with weight loss only in women not taking sleep medications. Neither caregiving status, presence of multiple comorbidities, nor stress modified the association.
Conclusion: Trouble staying asleep was associated with weight loss over 12 months in older women. Practitioners should inquire about sleep habits of patients presenting with weight loss, because this may identify a marker of declining health and may be a factor that can be modified.
© 2011, Copyright the Authors. Journal compilation © 2011, The American Geriatrics Society.