Association between sleep problems and health-related quality of life in Canadian adults with chronic diseases

This study aimed to explore the association between sleep problems and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in Canadian adults with chronic diseases, and whether mental illness can mediate the association.

Data were drawn from the Canadian Community Health Survey, 2015. A total of 10,900 participants aged ≥18 years and diagnosed with chronic diseases were enrolled in this study.

Of these participants, 23.6% (95% CI 22.1, 25.2) suffered from severe impairment of HRQoL. Extreme sleep durations, including both short (<5, 5 to <6, and 6 to <7 h) and long (9 to <10, and ≥10 h) sleep durations, were significantly associated with severe impairment of HRQoL (compared to 7 to <8 h). Insomnia was also independently associated with severe impairment of HRQoL when compared to those without insomnia. In the mediation analyses, mental illness was shown to partly mediate the associations of extreme sleep durations and insomnia with severe impairment of HRQoL.

In conclusion, both extreme sleep durations and insomnia were independently associated with severe impairment of HRQoL in adults with chronic diseases, and mental illness partly mediated the association.