The Association of Sleep Duration With Vision Impairment in Middle-Aged and Elderly Adults: Evidence From the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the association of sleep duration with vision impairment (VI) in middle-aged and elderly adults. Methods: This cross-sectional study used the data from the baseline survey of the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) 2011–2012, a national survey of adults aged 45 years or older. Weighted multilevel logistic regression models were used to evaluate the association between self-reported sleep duration and VI. Results: Of the 13,959 survey respondents, a total of 4,776 (34.2%) reported VI. The prevalence of short (≤6 h/night) and long (>8 h/night) sleep durations was higher among respondents with VI than those without VI (P < 0.001). Multilevel logistic regression models showed that compared with a sleep duration of 6–8 h/night, a sleep duration of ≤6 h/night was associated with a 1.45-fold [95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.34–1.56] higher VI risk, and a sleep duration of >8 h/night was associated with a 1.18-fold (95% CI = 1.03–1.34) higher VI risk, after adjusting for sociodemographic data, lifestyle factors, and health conditions. Vision impairment was associated with short sleep duration in respondents from all age or gender categories. However, VI was associated with long sleep duration in respondents from the elderly or female categories. The association between VI and long sleep duration disappeared in respondents of middle-aged or male categories. Conclusions: The potential impact of sleep on the risk of visual functions requires further attention. A more comprehensive and integrated health care and rehabilitation system covering vision and sleep is also needed.