Association between sleep duration and subjective memory complaints: A large-scale cross-sectional study based on NHANES

Objective

When chatting, people often forget what they want to say, that is, they suffer from subjective memory complaints (SMCs). This research examines the Association between sleep duration and self-reported SMC in a sample representing the entire United States.

Methods

We examined data from 5567 individuals (aged 20–80) who participated in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (2015–2018) to evaluate the association between sleep duration and SMC. Odds ratios (ORs) and a restricted cubic spline (RCS) curve were calculated with multiple logistic regression, and subgroup analysis was performed.

Results

Approximately 5.8 % (3 2 3) reported SMC, and most are older people (1 6 3). RCS analysis treating sleep duration as a continuous variable revealed a J-shaped curve association between sleep duration and SMC. Self-reported sleep duration was significantly linked to a 33 % elevated risk of SMC (OR, 1.33; 95 % confidence interval [CI], 1.23–1.43; P < 0.001). In the group analysis, individuals who slept more than 8 h per day had a greater association of experiencing SMC than those who slept for 6–8 h/day (OR, 1.75; 95 % CI, 1.36–2.23; P < 0.001). In the analysis of age groups, the stable association between sleep duration and SMC was observed only in the 60–80 age bracket (OR, 1.59; 95 % CI, 1.09–2.33; P < 0.001).

Conclusions

We found that people with self-report sleep duration exceeding 8 h are more likely to experience SMC, especially older adults. Improving sleep health may be an effective strategy for preventing SMC and cognitive impairment.