The link between sleep quality and nutritional status in community-dwelling Iranian elderly

The prevalence of sleep deprivation is high among the elderly. Moreover, some evidence indicates interesting connections between sleep quality and nutritional factors. This study aimed to examine the relationship of nutritional status and sleep quality in Iranian elderly. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 305 community-dwelling elderly individuals aged ≥ 65 years. Sleep quality and nutritional status were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index and the Mini Nutritional Assessment (MNA), respectively. Adjusted relationships were evaluated by logistic regression. Women had a higher prevalence of poor sleep quality than men (77.0% vs 48.9%), although both genders showed good overall nutritional status (89.1% for men and 85% for women). In men, there were significant associations between good sleep quality and food intake, protein food intake, and total MNA score in the crude model but not after adjustment for confounders. Women demonstrated significant associations between good sleep quality and intake of protein foods (OR = 0.23), dairy (OR = 0.30), fruit/vegetables (OR = 0.26), weight loss (OR = 0.25), and total MNA score (OR = 0.66) in the adjusted model. An association between sleep quality and nutritional status was observed only in women, which could be due to their poorer sleep quality compared to men. Given that the individuals were in relatively good nutritional status, future studies may assess these relationships in older adults with poorer nutritional status.