Racial differences in self-reports of short sleep duration in an urban-dwelling environment

To explore whether there are differences in sleep duration between blacks and whites residing in similar urban neighborhoods and examine whether the relationship between sleep durations and sociodemographic and/or health indices are consistent for blacks and whites.

A total of 1,207 participants from the Healthy Aging in Neighborhoods of Disparities across the Life Span study (age: mean = 47, standard deviation = 8.74). Sleep duration was assessed by a self-report of hours of nightly sleep in the past month. Sociodemographic measures included age, sex, education, poverty status, and perceived neighborhood disorder. Health status was assessed using measures of vigilance, depression, perceived stress, coronary artery disease, diabetes, blood pressure, and inflammation.

There were no significant racial group differences in sleep duration. Whites, however, were more likely than blacks to report sleep durations of <6/6-7 hr compared with >7 hr with increasing stress and education levels. Blacks were more likely than whites to report short sleep durations (i.e., 6-7 hr vs. >7 hr of sleep) with increasing inflammation levels.

Although racial disparities in sleep duration are minimized when the environment is equivalent between blacks and whites, the underlying demographic and health explanations for short sleep durations may vary between whites and blacks.