The Effect of Sleep Duration on the Risk of Unintentional Injury in Korean Adults

Abstract

ObjectivesThe decrease or increase in sleep duration has recently been recognized as a risk factor for several diseases, including hypertension and obesity. Many studies have explored the relationship of decreased sleep durations and injuries, but few have examined the relationship between increased sleep duration and injury. The objective of this research is to identify the risk for injury associated with both decreased and increased sleep durations.MethodsData from the 2010 Community Health Survey were used in this study. We conducted logistic regression with average sleep duration as the independent variable, injury as a dependent variable, and controlling for age, sex, occupation, education, region (cities and provinces), smoking, alcohol use, body mass index, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, and depression. Seven categories of sleep duration were established: ≤4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and ≥10 hours.ResultsUsing 7 hours of sleep as the reference, the adjusted injury risk (odds ratio) for those sleeping a total of ≤4 h/d was 1.53; 1.28 for 5 hours, for 1.11 for 6 hours, 0.98 for 8 hours, 1.12 for 9 hours, and 1.48 for ≥10 hours. The difference in risk was statistically significant for each category except for the 8 and 9 hours. In this study, risk increased as the sleep duration decreased or increased, except for the 8 and 9 hours.ConclusionsThis research found that either a decrease or increase in sleep duration was associated with an increased risk for injury. The concept of proper sleep duration can be evaluated by its associated injury risk.

Risk factors for unintentional injuries among the rural elderly: a county-based cross-sectional survey

“…In this study, those with 5 hours or less of sleep had 1.85-fold higher odds of injuries, and those with 6 hours of sleep had 1.45 higher odds more chance of injuries than those with approximately 9 hours of sleep (P < 0.05). Similar results were obtained by Kim 21 in his study, which investigated the relationship between hours of sleep and the likelihood of unintentional injuries. Similarly, sleep deprivation has been shown to lead to fatigue, drowsiness while driving, and impaired alertness, directly leading to an increased number of traffic accidents.…”

“…The use of medications also explains the increased rate of unintentional injuries among the elderly; for example, elderly individuals who consume opioid drugs are more likely to fall 20 . Furthermore, sleep duration affects unintentional injuries among adults; sleeping less than 6 hours was a risk factor for unintentional injuries 21 . The fall risk among elderly individuals is closely related to the activities of daily living (ADL) capability, physical activity habits, poor living conditions and environmental factors 22 .…”

Association of physical activity, sedentary time, and sleep duration on the health-related quality of life of college students in Northeast China

“…In the current study, we found that the mean sleep duration of college students (8.2 h) was higher than that reported among adults in China (7.3 h) [24], United States (7.2 h) [25], and Korea (6.7 h) [26] or other college students from China (7.08 h) [17]. The proportion of students with sleep duration less than 7 h/day (6.3%) was lower than that reported in another study of Chinese college students (41.3%) [17].…”

Association between Sleep Duration and Self-Reported Health Status: Findings from the Bhutan's Gross National Happiness Study

“…[29][30][31] In addition, Bhutan's average sleep time of 8.5 h is high when compared to other nationally representative studies from Finland (7.5 h), Austria (7 h), Korea (6.7 h), and United States (7.2 h). 19,[41][42][43] The high proportion of long sleepers in Bhutan could be because the majority of the respondents were from the rural areas without formal education. Furthermore, only 20% and 51% had access to internet and television, respectively, and 42% of the respondents were drinking alcohol.…”