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Updated: Jul 31, 2025

Author Spotlight: Unveiling the Connection Between Sleep Disorders and Cognitive Symptoms in Depression
Published on: April 26, 2024
Treatment for Insomnia Symptoms is Associated with Reduced Depression Among Older Adults: A Propensity Score Matching
T Muhammad1, Shobhit Srivastava2, K Muneera3
1Department of Family & Generations, International Institute for Population Sciences, Mumbai, India.
Objectives:
The study aimed to investigate the effect of utilization of treatment for insomnia symptoms on the prevalence of major depressive disorder among older adults in India.
Methods:
We used the data from the Longitudinal Ageing Study in India (LASI), 2017-18. The sample included 10,911 older individuals who reported insomnia symptoms. The propensity score matching (PSM) approach was used to compare the depressive disorder among those who received vs. not received treatment.
Results:
Only 5.7% of older adults reporting insomnia symptoms received treatment. On average, prevalence of depressive disorder among men and women who received treatment for insomnia symptoms was lesser by 0.79 and 0.33 points, respectively, than those who did not receive treatment. In the matched sample, treatment for insomnia symptoms was significantly associated with lesser prevalence of depression for both older men (β= -0.68, p < .001) and older women (β= -0.62, p < .001).
Conclusions:
The current findings suggest that treatment for insomnia symptoms can reduce the risk of depressive disorder among older adults and the effects are higher among older men than women.
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