Resumen de Association Between Insomnia Symptoms and Weight Change in Older Women:: Caregiver-Study of Osteoporotic Fractures Study

Craig Ross, Sonia Ancoli Israel, Susan Redline, Katie L. Stone, Lisa Fredman

• 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.