Trends in short sleep duration and trouble sleeping among US adults, 2005-2018

Background: Better understanding current trends in prevalence of short sleep duration and trouble sleeping is critical for prevention and management of sleep problems. The objective of the study was to determine trends in prevalence of short sleep duration and trouble sleeping among US adults from 2005 to 2018, and assess how sleep trends vary by sex and race/ethnicity. Methods: Seven cycles of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) data between 2005-2006 and 2017-2018 were analyzed. Participants who were 18 years or older and provided completed data regarding sleep duration were included. The final analytic sample size was 41416. Trouble sleeping and sleep duration were self-reported. Short sleep duration was defined as sleep duration ≤ 6 hours. Age-standardized prevalence of trouble sleeping and short sleep duration were estimated among the overall US adult population, and by sex and race/ethnicity. Results: From the 2005-2006 cycle through the 2013-2014 cycle, the age-adjusted prevalence of short sleep duration remained similar in the overall population (p for trend>0.05). Non-Hispanic Black people had the highest prevalence of short sleep duration among all the race/ethnicity groups in all seven cycles. Prevalence of short sleep duration appears lower in 2015-2018 than in 2005-2014 due to different measurement methods applied. However, from 2005-2006 to 2017-2018, there were increasing trends in age-adjusted prevalence of trouble sleeping in the overall population, among both men and women, and all race/ethnicity groups (p for trend< 0.05). Compared to men, women had a higher prevalence of trouble sleeping. Among all the race/ethnicity groups, non-Hispanic White people had the highest prevalence of trouble sleeping. Conclusions: The prevalence of trouble sleeping increased significantly between 2005 and 2018, while no trends were detected in the prevalence of short sleep duration. Meanwhile, non-Hispanic Black people had the highest prevalence of short sleep duration, whereas non-Hispanic White people had the highest prevalence of trouble sleeping. These findings suggested that the sources contributing to the increasing trends in trouble sleeping were different from those contributing to the trends in short sleep duration. Also, targeted management and prevention efforts should be made for different race/ethnicity groups to address the race/ethnic disparities in sleep health. Keywords: Trends, Prevalence, Short sleep duration, Trouble sleeping